Leaving Depression Behind: An Interactive, Choose Your Path Book

by A.J. Centore, Taylor Bennett

Let's get straight to it. You're not feeling so great. You're actually feeling pretty crappy, and you don't know what to do about it. We wrote this book to help you better manage all that comes with depression—from feeling sad or anxious to losing interest in the things and people you love. This is a Choose Your Path book, which means you decide which sections you read and which sections you skip, based on how you feel and what you're seeking.We can't promise this book will cure you (if we did, Dr. AJ would lose his license), but we can and do promise each page was carefully written to help you move forward in your life and toward happiness. And because you've picked up this book, we know you believe that. Or at least you want to believe, and that's good enough for now.

269 pages, paperback

Published July 24, 2019

Reviews

[Kat Robey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leaving Depression Behind is a very useful and accessible book for clients and their families as well as for clinicians. The explanations are clear and conversational, the diagnostic information lifts the veil on mental health care so that symptoms and symptom managemant may be more easily understood. The “Choose Your Path” adventure style of the book made each chapter and choice entertaining and engaging.

The language throughout the book continues the conversation about mental health in a way that really helps to reduce the stigma surrounding the issue. The encouragement to do exercises and the blank forms included in the book are wonderful first steps in growing a regular practice of mental health self care and self-awareness.

As a counselor in the mental health field, I enjoyed this resource and will share both in my office and in my personal connections.

[Stephanie Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The danger in reading a self-help style book for someone struggling with a mental health issue is that they're often laden with orders and demands filtered through heavy professional jargon that can leave a person feeling more confused and overwhelmed than ever, thus pushing them further away from getting the help that they need.
The conversational tone that it's written in, along with the choose your path format, make this book accessible to the reader in a way that allows them to slowly get their feet wet versus throwing them in at the deep end. People both with and without a diagnosis of depression would benefit from the self-exploration exercises presented within that require the reader to examine their thought patterns and the overall impact that they have on their lives (for which helpful worksheets are provided throughout). Besides the fact that the authors actually encourage you to write inside the book (heathens I tell you), I would recommend it for both personal and professional reading.