Beating the Blues: New Approaches to Overcoming Dysthymia and Chronic Mild Depression

Rating:
Summary: Cutting-edge interventions for mild depression
Review:
This book explores causes and new treatments for mild depression. It is easy to understand and accessible to all, providing readers with a thorough understanding of depression.
It is formatted for quick reference to key ideas and information. Plenty of new, innovative, effective coping strategies are included. Readers will be inspired to take action to overcome depression. Highly recommended for anyone suffering from depression or interested in treatments for mild
depression.


Rating:
Summary: Packed with Information
Review: I recommend Beating the Blues to anyone who often feels mildly depressed and can't seem to shake the down feelings. I thought this book gave a great synthesis of the findings of recent research and clinical studies on mild and moderate depression and the most effective treatments, including several new, experimental therapies. I found the detailed self-help strategies valuable, as well as the guidelines for deciding whether to seek psychotherapy or medications.

The book was made even more useful by the inclusion of many bulleted lists and charts, which I could refer back to for a summary of a chapter or to find specific information.

I lent the book to a co-worker whose mother had become depressed since moving to an elder-care facility. After reading it, she said that she now has a better understanding of what her mother is going through, and she is using the chapter on aging and dysthymia, as well as the chapter on medications, to take steps to alleviate her mother's symptoms.

I've read many self-help books, and I can't remember another so packed with valuable, easily usable information. I definitely recommend Beating the Blues.

Rating:
Summary: Decent book
Review: I suffer from dysthymia and depression, and I found this book to be quite helpful in trying to frame some of my negative thinking. The book is easy to read, and is fairly complete. I found the editing to be somewhat inadequate. For instance, in the chapter about medication, they mentioned that Effexor was quite often used as a first attempt for anti-depressants. Later in the paragraph, it mentioned that if these were not well-tolerated, then the subject may move onto the 2nd-class of drugs, of which Effexor was again mentioned. Dispensing advice and information on medication is so important that this kind of details should not have been neglected.

Of course, these meds require a prescription, but nevertheless, it underscores some of the editing, or the lack thereof, that this book really needed. Additionally, some of the ideas were mentioned over and over again, which is both good and bad. For a hurry-in-the-pants reader like myself, that was too much, but as a tool to help modify congitive-behaviours, I think some of their messages cannot be mentioned more than enough.

All in all, I find it a helpful book. Since most people suffering from depression have a difficult time reading a book, this one can be a great asset.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful to anyone who has been in therapy.
Review: The messages this book delivers are at first preachy, but then it gives you the option to skip to Chapter Five, where it starts instructing the reader to retrain the thinking that leads to dysthymic/depressive episodes. It's a cognitive behavioral approach that does begin the path to a more sound daily life. As soon as I read it, I wrote my therapist and told her that her messages to me about my dysthymia diagnosis strongly resonate throughout the book starting with Chapter 5. Have high expectations when you begin to pursue this book's method.