Understanding Depression: What We Know and What You Can Do About It

by J. Raymond DePaulo, Leslie Alan Horvitz, Kay Redfield Jamison (Forward)

From a leading medical expert at Johns Hopkins, here is an up-to-the-minute, definitive guide to what s known about depression and how it can be treated.

Around ten percent of North Americans suffer from depression at some point -- and more than half haven t even sought help. Now, Dr. Raymond DePaulo, one of the world s foremost authorities on depression, provides a sensitive, thorough, and reassuring book for sufferers from depression and those who care about them. This practical guide for individuals with depression and their families -- the only totally comprehensive book in the market -- shows readers how to identify the problem, then directs them to the various forms of treatment, including medications, psychotherapy, support groups, and exercise. It is one of the few books to discuss in depth manic depression, the bipolar form of depression. Dr. DePaulo discusses both mainstream (the latest medications and talk therapies) and alternative paths and reveals the truth about the dangerous fallacies that abound about depression. Comprehensive, compassionate, and grounded in the very latest research into brain chemistry, psychology, and medications, this is a definitive, landmark roadmap to one of the most devastating -- and common -- mental illnesses.

Genres: Self Help, Psychology, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Health

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2002

Reviews

[Katrina]

This was an incredibly informative book - I highly recommend for anyone who loves someone who suffers from depression. It really explained a lot and gave me new insight and strategies for helping people with this disease. The author is the head of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins and it shows!

[Micki Levin]

Excellent book which does a great job of explaining the biochemical aspects of depression. Micki. PhD

[Carol]

Good information on depression -- out of date as to latest medications available.

[Pam]

This is a good book for educating oneself about depression. Dr. Raymond Depaulo is full of information and incite for anyone dealing with depression themselves or who has a loved one who deals with it. However, its copyright date is 2002, and I'd be curious to read an even more current book on the topic to see if there's been any breakthroughs in the last five years.

[Sally]

I think you can really tell that this author knows alot what he is talking about, but I just couldn't really get with what he was talking about.