Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison

Rating:
Summary: good overview but lacks solid advice
Review: As a former sufferer of clinical depression, my most effective tool for recovery was self-help books. Although I would say that Dorothy Rowe writes in a very creative and understanding manner about the nature of depression and the binds which keep us in it, the book doesn't really venture beyond the abstract. Unlike the excellent "Overcoming Depression" by Paul Gilbert or "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway" by Susan Jeffers, there is actually very little advice on how to practically integrate these ideas into your life, as well as how to cope on a day to day basis with the condition.

Rating:
Summary: Great, informative enlightened book
Review: Dot Rowe has portrayed a picture of Depressin that is purely text book and there seems to be little idea of the true pain suffered by depression sufferers. I would not reccomend this book to anyone who needs help in coping with depression.

Rating:
Summary: Great, informative enlightened book
Review: This book offered me a different perspective to depression from alot of books I've read. What I read made sense and the religious references are few and far between so don't think there's a religious element to this book because there isn't to speak of.

This book will stop and make you think. Some of the insights are really obvious when you think about them and you can really relate to them.

Give it a try it might just start you on the road to changing your life...

P.S. My name is not Dorothy Rowe. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: insightful and practical
Review: This is the very best book I have read about depression, and as a psychotherapist, I have read many. This book is written in a style that is both accessible and scholarly, so it can appeal to sufferers of depression and to mental health professionals alike. The author builds a metaphor throughout the book in which she discusses depression as a prison, which is built brick by brick by experiences and thoughts. The prison both protects and isolates the depressed person, and the depressed person wants to change, but feels helpless to change, thereby remaining in the prison. The author conveys a deep understanding of the pain of the depressed person, the beliefs that perpetuate depression (e.g., being depressed=being good, only bad things will happen to me) and then rationally disputes these self-defeating beliefs. This book provides much food for thought; as such, I appreciated reading it slowly so that I could reflect on it between chapters.