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Depression is a Liar - The Complete Series
Depression can make us feel like we’re living in a body that fights to survive, with a mind that tries to die.
It can make us feel scared, miserable, empty, numb, ashamed, embarrassed and unable to recognise the fun, happy person we used to be.
It can make it impossible to be able to construct or even envision a future.
It can make us feel so confused and mixed up that we can’t see any answers for any of the problems in our lives, and it can make us feel devastatedly helpless as a result.
It can be so overwhelming that it can feel as if we’re fighting to keep our head above water when it’s up to our nose, and the water keeps getting deeper, and we don’t know how to swim, and there’s no one around to save us, and no matter how much we kick and struggle and scream, we just keep sinking. And after a while, it can make us question, what’s the point? What’s the point in continuing to fight a battle we don’t think we can win? And it can make us wonder if everything wouldn’t be better if we just disappeared . . .
Hi, my name’s Danny Baker, and for four years, I suffered from life-threatening bouts of depression that led to alcoholism, drug abuse, medicine-induced psychosis, near suicide attempts and multiple hospitalisations. But over time, I managed to recover, and these days, I’m happy, healthy, and absolutely love my life.
In my bestselling Depression is a Liar series, I'll share with you everything I learned in the course of my recovery from depression, so that by the time you've finished reading it, you'll have the inspiration, guidance and know-how you need to be able to recover yourself.
Here's exactly what's included in this series
Depression is a Liar (Depression is a Liar Book 1): This is a memoir that recounts my own personal struggle and eventual triumph over depression. It's a #1 international mental health bestseller, and in 2016, will be translated into Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
This Is How You Recover From Depression (Depression is a Liar Book 2): In this book, I’ll break down the exact three step blueprint I followed to recover from depression, and show you how you can do the same. In the course of doing so, I'll also share with you how I learned how to deal with some particularly common causes of depression, including spending too long doing things that we don’t enjoy, loving ourselves for unhealthy reasons, holding onto anger, victimising ourselves, spending too much time with toxic people, being prisoners of what other people think of us, living an unbalanced life, perfectionism, living an unhealthy lifestyle, negative thinking, worrying about things that are out of our control, and several more.
Hold On, Pain Ends (Depression is a Liar Book 3): This book is comprised of my favourite 365 supportive, uplifting, encouraging quotes that will help you start your mornings in a positive mood and help you cope with your depression as the day wears on.
It can make us feel scared, miserable, empty, numb, ashamed, embarrassed and unable to recognise the fun, happy person we used to be.
It can make it impossible to be able to construct or even envision a future.
It can make us feel so confused and mixed up that we can’t see any answers for any of the problems in our lives, and it can make us feel devastatedly helpless as a result.
It can be so overwhelming that it can feel as if we’re fighting to keep our head above water when it’s up to our nose, and the water keeps getting deeper, and we don’t know how to swim, and there’s no one around to save us, and no matter how much we kick and struggle and scream, we just keep sinking. And after a while, it can make us question, what’s the point? What’s the point in continuing to fight a battle we don’t think we can win? And it can make us wonder if everything wouldn’t be better if we just disappeared . . .
Hi, my name’s Danny Baker, and for four years, I suffered from life-threatening bouts of depression that led to alcoholism, drug abuse, medicine-induced psychosis, near suicide attempts and multiple hospitalisations. But over time, I managed to recover, and these days, I’m happy, healthy, and absolutely love my life.
In my bestselling Depression is a Liar series, I'll share with you everything I learned in the course of my recovery from depression, so that by the time you've finished reading it, you'll have the inspiration, guidance and know-how you need to be able to recover yourself.
Here's exactly what's included in this series
Depression is a Liar (Depression is a Liar Book 1): This is a memoir that recounts my own personal struggle and eventual triumph over depression. It's a #1 international mental health bestseller, and in 2016, will be translated into Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
This Is How You Recover From Depression (Depression is a Liar Book 2): In this book, I’ll break down the exact three step blueprint I followed to recover from depression, and show you how you can do the same. In the course of doing so, I'll also share with you how I learned how to deal with some particularly common causes of depression, including spending too long doing things that we don’t enjoy, loving ourselves for unhealthy reasons, holding onto anger, victimising ourselves, spending too much time with toxic people, being prisoners of what other people think of us, living an unbalanced life, perfectionism, living an unhealthy lifestyle, negative thinking, worrying about things that are out of our control, and several more.
Hold On, Pain Ends (Depression is a Liar Book 3): This book is comprised of my favourite 365 supportive, uplifting, encouraging quotes that will help you start your mornings in a positive mood and help you cope with your depression as the day wears on.
400 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2016
About the author
Danny Baker
6 books44 followersI write books ... hopefully books that you not only enjoy, but ones that help you understand yourself, your circumstances or a social cause a little bit better. After all, isn't art at its most powerful when it not only entertains us, but when it also educates, elevates and inspires?
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 21, 2018
TLDR, Depression is a Liar is garbage. I really didn't like it and think that there's far better you can read on the same subject.
I try not to write off reading someone’s other work because of one bad book. The bad book might be the exception. Thankfully for me, this is 4 books in one paperback so I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Baker has been given a decent chance by me. If for nothing else I am happy that I read this as a collection so that he does not show on my most-read authors list.
What frustrates me most about a lot of media about Depression is the perpetuation of stereotypes that makes people not want to talk about it. Mental Health still has a negative stigma but society seems to be moving towards taking it seriously. Depression manifests in multiple ways as most people who have tried to verse themselves in that world will tell you. People can be diagnosed with Depression and still describe different symptoms. For that reason I don’t presume to judge the author’s experiences with Depression in the same way I would not expect him to judge mine.
Baker’s understanding of Depression, if you go by his writing, is little more than feeling sad for a prolonged period of time. There’s a section where he talks about not necessarily suffering from Depression, but learning to be happy. Whenever he talks about his Depressive episodes he also indicates a causal link such as not being with the girl he likes, his grades being lower than desired, or missing a deadline for his book (if you value your health don’t make it a drinking game every time he talks about what he believes will be his magnum opus).
The trouble is not that the author tries to rationalise his feelings. From personal experience I have also tried to look at the factors that lead to me feeling full of dread or empty. Baker continues to do this throughout the book though and it doesn’t seem like he learns anything. It’s this kind of thing that makes me question whether or not he understands Depression as much as he thinks he does. If you apply the logic that he seems to apply you are suffering from Depression if you are simply sad that you are in debt. Or how about a situation where you have a relative die? That sadness you feel isn’t understandable grief, it’s mental illness!!
Remember that the author states he may just be “learning to be happy”. Baker sounds far more like the people who say that Depressed people need to just “cheer up” than someone who claims to have suffered from Depression. Maybe the line was intended to sound deep or inspirational. It’s stuff like this that irritated me during the reading process and when one of your books is “This is how you recover from Depression” you don’t get a pass.
An additional thing that riled me was that Baker blames almost everything but himself for his feelings of sadness. There’s a section where he majorly calls out his doctor who he blames for having prescribed the wrong medication for him. Doctors do not always get it right, it would be incorrect to say otherwise. The only people who know what got said in the Doctor’s room however are the Patient and the Doctor. We have no idea what the Doctor based their assessment on.
A lot of the time Baker talks about his alcoholism. As someone who has found himself using alcohol as a crutch in the past to numb myself I thought I was going to get stuff out of this. Maybe this was the section that was going to get me identifying with him. But no, he talks about he had anywhere from 20 – 40 drinks (the unit of measurement is unclear whether this is units of alcohol, sips or glasses) and couldn’t handle his booze. This would have been the perfect opportunity to talk about whether this exacerbated his problem or helped him deal with his personal demons. He doesn’t take this opportunity and the book suffers for it.
In one of the books in the series he tells you all about steps you can take to cure yourself of Depression. These sections read like he read a few self-help books and regurgitated the information without fully understanding it. To say that I didn’t find the sections helpful is an understatement. To summarise that individual book: “take steps to cheer yourself up. Doing this will help cheer yourself up”.
The author has definitely built into his own hype. One of the books is a collection of inspirational quotes. Not the kind of thing I could see myself choosing to pick up out of choice but each to their own. The last few inspirational quotes are from… Danny Baker. This ego trip and sheer confidence that his quotes were inspirational was the final push for me. I didn’t give up after disliking the initial book and thought that maybe I’d finally get the same feeling of contentment that other people who have highly rated the book did. Including your own quotes as inspirational, in the same book you quote people like Gandhi, was the nail in the egotistical coffin. You can imagine my shock that the author hasn’t ranked his own books 5-stars on GoodReads considering this.
As always I want to stress that this lengthy piece of criticism is of the book as a book: not an attack of the author. I’m sure Baker is a nice person and wants to help people who are suffering from Depression. I’ve not had any experience from his Depression is Not Destiny website but if people are feeling that it’s helping them then great, I’m glad they’re getting the support and encouragement they need. It has to be better than this overlong mess that I’m reviewing.
For better reading I suggest Sally Brampton’s Shoot the Damn Dog or the collection of essays known as Unholy Ghost. Are both of these books from more accomplished and experienced authors? Yes, but I don’t think that the reputations of the authors are the reasons I found myself enjoying those books. Those books far better deal with the confusion of Depression: the search for answers and the desperation for your own wellbeing. It says a lot that I identified a lot more with the individuals in far different social positions from myself, than a young male around my age.
I try not to write off reading someone’s other work because of one bad book. The bad book might be the exception. Thankfully for me, this is 4 books in one paperback so I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Baker has been given a decent chance by me. If for nothing else I am happy that I read this as a collection so that he does not show on my most-read authors list.
What frustrates me most about a lot of media about Depression is the perpetuation of stereotypes that makes people not want to talk about it. Mental Health still has a negative stigma but society seems to be moving towards taking it seriously. Depression manifests in multiple ways as most people who have tried to verse themselves in that world will tell you. People can be diagnosed with Depression and still describe different symptoms. For that reason I don’t presume to judge the author’s experiences with Depression in the same way I would not expect him to judge mine.
Baker’s understanding of Depression, if you go by his writing, is little more than feeling sad for a prolonged period of time. There’s a section where he talks about not necessarily suffering from Depression, but learning to be happy. Whenever he talks about his Depressive episodes he also indicates a causal link such as not being with the girl he likes, his grades being lower than desired, or missing a deadline for his book (if you value your health don’t make it a drinking game every time he talks about what he believes will be his magnum opus).
The trouble is not that the author tries to rationalise his feelings. From personal experience I have also tried to look at the factors that lead to me feeling full of dread or empty. Baker continues to do this throughout the book though and it doesn’t seem like he learns anything. It’s this kind of thing that makes me question whether or not he understands Depression as much as he thinks he does. If you apply the logic that he seems to apply you are suffering from Depression if you are simply sad that you are in debt. Or how about a situation where you have a relative die? That sadness you feel isn’t understandable grief, it’s mental illness!!
Remember that the author states he may just be “learning to be happy”. Baker sounds far more like the people who say that Depressed people need to just “cheer up” than someone who claims to have suffered from Depression. Maybe the line was intended to sound deep or inspirational. It’s stuff like this that irritated me during the reading process and when one of your books is “This is how you recover from Depression” you don’t get a pass.
An additional thing that riled me was that Baker blames almost everything but himself for his feelings of sadness. There’s a section where he majorly calls out his doctor who he blames for having prescribed the wrong medication for him. Doctors do not always get it right, it would be incorrect to say otherwise. The only people who know what got said in the Doctor’s room however are the Patient and the Doctor. We have no idea what the Doctor based their assessment on.
A lot of the time Baker talks about his alcoholism. As someone who has found himself using alcohol as a crutch in the past to numb myself I thought I was going to get stuff out of this. Maybe this was the section that was going to get me identifying with him. But no, he talks about he had anywhere from 20 – 40 drinks (the unit of measurement is unclear whether this is units of alcohol, sips or glasses) and couldn’t handle his booze. This would have been the perfect opportunity to talk about whether this exacerbated his problem or helped him deal with his personal demons. He doesn’t take this opportunity and the book suffers for it.
In one of the books in the series he tells you all about steps you can take to cure yourself of Depression. These sections read like he read a few self-help books and regurgitated the information without fully understanding it. To say that I didn’t find the sections helpful is an understatement. To summarise that individual book: “take steps to cheer yourself up. Doing this will help cheer yourself up”.
The author has definitely built into his own hype. One of the books is a collection of inspirational quotes. Not the kind of thing I could see myself choosing to pick up out of choice but each to their own. The last few inspirational quotes are from… Danny Baker. This ego trip and sheer confidence that his quotes were inspirational was the final push for me. I didn’t give up after disliking the initial book and thought that maybe I’d finally get the same feeling of contentment that other people who have highly rated the book did. Including your own quotes as inspirational, in the same book you quote people like Gandhi, was the nail in the egotistical coffin. You can imagine my shock that the author hasn’t ranked his own books 5-stars on GoodReads considering this.
As always I want to stress that this lengthy piece of criticism is of the book as a book: not an attack of the author. I’m sure Baker is a nice person and wants to help people who are suffering from Depression. I’ve not had any experience from his Depression is Not Destiny website but if people are feeling that it’s helping them then great, I’m glad they’re getting the support and encouragement they need. It has to be better than this overlong mess that I’m reviewing.
For better reading I suggest Sally Brampton’s Shoot the Damn Dog or the collection of essays known as Unholy Ghost. Are both of these books from more accomplished and experienced authors? Yes, but I don’t think that the reputations of the authors are the reasons I found myself enjoying those books. Those books far better deal with the confusion of Depression: the search for answers and the desperation for your own wellbeing. It says a lot that I identified a lot more with the individuals in far different social positions from myself, than a young male around my age.
April 11, 2016
Fantastic
Great first book in a series of four. I loved his book I will not kill myself, Olivia. He is a great author, writing truthfully, heartfelt and pulls no punches, talks about depression and also the bad doctors that just do not understand the illness!
Great first book in a series of four. I loved his book I will not kill myself, Olivia. He is a great author, writing truthfully, heartfelt and pulls no punches, talks about depression and also the bad doctors that just do not understand the illness!
May 19, 2016
I guess some phrases are used often enough to first stick in your head, and then begin to annoy... But this is so damn easily forgiven in a book that makes you see the point of going on... Danny, thank you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews