Synopsis Richard O'Connor, therapist and former depression sufferer, demonstrates that a patient can conquer the insidious disease of depression and attain a healthy state of being. In this revelatory work, O'Connor explores the constitution of depression, touches on the way so many become stuck in it through learned coping mechanisms, and addresses a method of changing habits to become well. He shares his personal experience as well as those of many of his clients to demonstrate what has worked--and what has not. Divided into four sections, the book discusses how depression affects its victims, explains methods of re-education for healing, addresses practical application of the newly attained abilities, and points the patient toward making the recovery process a part of a successful life. As a practicing therapist who has been the director of a nonprofit mental health clinic, O'Connor integrates standard medical treatments, including medication, into his program, while offering fresh hope with his take-charge ideas. Every reader, regardless of his or her own experience with this problem, can gain insight into its effective management.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1999-01-01 | | Edition Description: | Reissue |
| Size | | Length: | 358 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 10.4 oz |
Publisher's Note A psychotherapist shows readers how to "undo" depression by replacing depressive patterns of thinking, relating, and behaving with a new and more effective set of skills.
For some people, depression has been a part of their experience for so long that they've begun to believe it's what they are. They become experts at "doing" depression--hiding it, working around it, even achieving great things (but at the price of great struggle, and little satisfaction). In this book, psychotherapist Richard O'Conner shows us how to "undo" depression, by replacing depressive patterns of thinking, relating, and behaving with a new and more effective set of skills. With a truly holistic approach that synthesizes the best of the many schools of thought about this painful disease, O'Conner offers new hope--and new life--for depressives.
Industry Reviews Psychotherapist and family counselor O'Connor attempts in his first book to bridge the chasm between the various approaches to treating depression including medication, psychotherapy and self-help. Emphasizing the complexity of this state, which "is not a feeling, but the inability to feel," O'Connor suggests that a combination of approaches is necessary for full long-term recovery, explains the role of each approach and then focuses on the often overlooked role of self-help. Claiming that depressives have learned inappropriate skills for coping with their affliction and simply don't know how to replace them, he addresses five main areas in which new habits can be practiced: thinking, feeling, behavior, relationships and self-image. Calling upon both his clinical and personal experiences with depression, O'Connor warns that "Recovery from depression is hard work." Adding that working hard to change habits and fully recover is better than working hard to hide and/or manage depression, he lists 12 clear principles for recovery, including feeling feelings, communicating directly, cultivating intimacy and practicing detachment. O'Connor also dispels some myths (that depression is an emotion; that children can't experience depression), and imparts a sense of urgency for both depressives and mental health professionals to understand and treat all aspects of the growing "epidemic of depression." Readers will find this an uncommonly thorough and useful guide to overcoming a painful disease. (Nov.) Lopate
A practicing psychotherapist, O'Connor certainly respects the work of health care professionals in the area of depression. But as someone who has struggled with this affliction himself, O'Connor also believes that present-day therapy and medication treatments often fail, for those suffering from long-term depression 'persist in self-destructive behavior because they don't know how to do anything else.' In a sense, they don't know how to live without depression. O'Connor's book tries to get people to see the ingrained behaviors for what they are as a first step to altering their emotional habits. . . . Throughout, O'Connor's concern is developing a healthy psyche through awareness. This personally informed and deeply compassionate book should be a fine addition to self-help holdings. Annotation copyright H.W. Wilson Company. McCombie
Although [O'Connor's] clear and easy-to-read style will appeal to lay readers, clinicians will find no cutting-edge research or new ideas in this text. . . . The book's strength lies in its humanity and the hope it offers to those suffering from depression, presenting as it does an honest and thoughtful portrait of the accompanying pain and struggle. However, O'Connor fails to reference any of his statistics, and several diagnostic criteria are taken, without acknowledgment, directly from the DSM-IV. There are some blatant inaccuracies. Annotation copyright H.W. Wilson Company. Pryor
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