Overcoming Depression For Dummies Read online

  Overcoming Depression For Dummies®

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  About This Book

  A Note to Our Depressed Readers

  Conventions Used in This Book

  Foolish Assumptions

  How This Book Is Organised

  Part I: Discovering Depression and Designing Defences

  Part II: Seeing Things More Clearly: Cognitive Therapy

  Part III: Actively Combating Depression: Behaviour Therapy

  Part IV: Adjusting to Changing Relationships

  Part V: Full-Bodied Assault: Biological Therapies to Fight the Physical Foe

  Part VI: Life After Depression

  Part VII: The Part of Tens

  Icons Used in This Book

  Where to Go from Here

  Part I: Discovering Depression and Designing Defences

  Chapter 1: Understanding and Overcoming Depression

  Understanding Your Level of Well-Being

  Feeling Blue, or Depressed?

  The Many Faces of Depression

  Young and depressed

  Grandparents: Grumpy or depressed?

  Men don’t do depression, or do they?

  Women and depression

  Depression and diversity

  Getting to the Root of Depression

  Calculating the Costs of Depression

  Adding up the costs of depression

  Personal costs of depression

  Detailing depression’s physical toll

  Feeling Good Again

  Cognitive therapy

  Overcoming depression

  Re-establishing relationships

  Finding biological solutions

  Feeling Great

  Seeing the Sense in Sadness

  Chapter 2: Detecting Depression

  Recognising the Damage of Depression

  Dwelling on dark thoughts

  Dragging your feet: Depressed behaviour

  Struggling with relationships

  Feeling foul: The physical

  signs of depression

  Examining the Six Types of Depression

  Major depressive disorder: Can’t

  even get out of bed

  Dysthymic disorder: Chronic,

  low-level depression

  Adjustment disorder with depressed

  mood: Reactive depression

  Bipolar disorder: Ups and downs

  Seasonal affective disorder:

  Dark depression

  Premenstrual dysphoric disorder and postnatal depression: Horrible hormones?

  Linking Drugs, Diseases, and Depression

  Drugs with depressive side effects

  Depression-inducing illnesses

  Knowing Where Grief Ends

  and Depression Begins

  Monitoring Mood

  Chapter 3: Breaking Barriers to Change

  Untying the Knots: Revealing Reasons for Avoidance

  Facing the fear of change

  Identifying change-blocking beliefs

  Exposing myths: therapy and self-help

  Breaking Free from Self-Limitations

  Avoiding pitfalls

  Suspending judgement

  Going slow

  Taking two steps forward, and one back

  Transforming visions of

  failure into success

  Chapter 4: Finding Help for Depression

  Exploring the Self-Help Option

  Deciding whether self-help is for you

  Reviewing the resources

  Pursuing Psychological Therapy

  Uncovering what works: The effective

  psychological therapies

  Discovering who’s who in

  psychological therapy

  Finding the right therapist for you

  Having rapport with your therapist

  Consulting a Professional

  about Antidepressants

  Prescribing professionals

  Professionals who don’t prescribe

  Part II: Seeing Things More Clearly: Cognitive Therapy

  Chapter 5: Uncovering Underlying

  Thought Processes

  Thinking about Cognitive Therapy

  Monitoring Thoughts and Feelings,

  and Relating Them to Life Events

  Feeling comfortably numb

  Exposing underlying thoughts

  Designing your Thought Catcher

  Unearthing Distortions in Thinking

  Following misleading misperceptions

  Making misjudgements

  Assigning blame to the wrong source

  Getting enslaved by emotions

  and fooled by feelings

  Chapter 6: Dispersing the Dark Clouds

  of Depressive Thinking

  Taking Your Thoughts to Task

  Introducing the restructuring process

  Catching negative thoughts

  Putting the thought on trial

  Coming up with constructive

  alternative thoughts

  Evaluating your alternative thoughts

  Following a model example

  Using a Thought-Repair Toolkit

  Making it someone else’s problem

  Having time on your side

  Testing out your thoughts

  Revising your black and white thinking

  Facing the worst

  Chapter 7: Discovering the Distorting Perceptions Behind Depression

  Looking Closely at How

  You See the World

  Introducing the problematic life-lenses

  Understanding the origins of life-lenses

  Seeing the world through

  cracked life-lenses

  Uncovering Your View

  Challenging Life Perspectives

  Finding self-forgiveness

  Separating then from now

  Carrying out a cost/benefit analysis

  Seeing Clearly: Replacing

  the Distorting Lenses

  Looking through contrasting lenses

  Trying a new look

  Taking direct actions

  Writing a letter to the source

  Chapter 8: Amending Your Memory

  Making Sense of Memory

  Depressing Disruptions

  Forgiving Forgetfulness

  Assisting Your Ailing Memory

  Putting pen to paper

  Developing routines

  Smelling (and touching

  and seeing) the roses

  Remembering names

  Biting off no more than you can chew

  Decreasing multitasking

  Following through

  Letting it go and reviving recall

  Part III: Actively Combating Depression: Behaviour Therapy

  Chapter 9: Don’t take it Lying Down!

  Acting on Action-Blocking Thoughts

  I just can’t be bothered . . .

  Just a few minutes more . . .

  Why try, when I’m just going to fail . . .

  A lazy person – that’s me!

  One Step at a Time: Recording Activity

  Conquering ‘Can’t’ Thoughts

  Thinking through your thoughts

  Testing out behavioural experiments

  Checking Out Your Negative Predictions

  Giving Yourself Credit

  Chapter 10: Exercising to Lift Depression

  Introducing Endorphins Into Your Life

  Ungluing Yourself from the Sofa

  Easing Into Exercise

  Weighing Up Your Exercise Options

  Lifting depression’s heavy weight


  Working your heart and lungs

  Relaxing and strengthening with yoga

  Chapter 11: Rediscovering Healthy Pleasures

  Taking Fun Seriously

  Identifying Activities You Enjoy

  Vanquishing the Joy Destroyers

  Getting to grips with guilt

  Tackling self-fulfilling prophecies

  Chapter 12: Handling Life’s Headaches

  Devising Life’s Problem-Solving

  Game Plan – CRICKET

  Identifying the Central Core (C)

  Running Through the Routes (R)

  Letting go

  Thinking visually

  Permitting playfulness

  Listing all your options

  Investigating Outcomes (I)

  Committing to a Choice (C)

  Being your own best friend

  Choosing sides

  Don’t Try to Kid Yourself (K)

  Easing Your Emotions (E)

  Holding the dress rehearsal

  Practising self-talk

  Testing Out Your Solution:

  The Test Match (T)

  Part IV: Adjusting to Changing Relationships

  Chapter 13: Working Through Loss,

  Grief, and Mourning

  Losing What’s Important to You

  Dealing with death

  Changing with the times

  Breaking up is hard to do

  Working Through Grief

  Seeing the wide angle view

  of relationships

  Rolling through roles

  Chapter 14: Revitalising Relationships

  Looking at the Depression–Rejection Vicious Circle

  Exaggerating the negative

  Monochrome or technicolour?

  Seeing what you’re feeling

  Cancelling out constructive criticism

  Pursuing Positives

  Giving compliments

  Adding a nice touch

  Planning pleasurable times together

  Including something enjoyable every day

  Defeating Defensiveness

  Checking it out

  Not taking things personally

  Clarifying Communication

  Taking ownership

  Making the message palatable

  Defusing situations versus being defensive

  Putting it all into practice

  Part V: Full-Bodied Assault: Biological Therapies to Fight the Physical Foe

  Chapter 15: Maximising Medication Benefits

  Selecting the Best Weapons

  to Fight Depression

  Exploring the Medication Option

  Awarding drugs the thumbs up

  Giving medication the thumbs down

  Seeing What Suits: Working with Your Doctor to Find the Correct Medication

  Understanding How Antidepressants Work: Revising Biology

  Exploring Medication

  Selecting SSRIs

  Getting more for your money

  Taking tricyclics

  Understanding MAO inhibitors

  Looking Beyond Antidepressants

  Getting extra help for severe depression

  And there’s more!

  Chapter 16: Help and Hope: Exploring Complementary Therapies

  for Depression

  Sampling Supplements and Herbs

  St John’s wort

  SAM-e

  Tryptophan and 5 HTP

  Omega-3 fatty acids

  Multivitamins

  Hyped-up herbs?

  Food for Thought

  Lighting Up the Darkness: Light Therapy

  Treating Severe Depression

  Electrifying results

  Stimulating nerves

  Magnetising depression

  Searching Further

  Air ionisation

  Massage

  Relaxation

  Part VI: Life After Depression

  Chapter 17: Reducing the Risk of Relapse

  Facing Up to the Potential of Relapse

  Reaching your verdict: Relapse

  versus low mood

  Getting the low-down on relapse rates

  Rating your risk

  Equipping Yourself to Prevent Relapse

  Sustaining success

  Monitoring the signs

  Preparing a Prevention Plan

  Achieving wellbeing: More than simply defeating depression

  Reining in Relapse When It Recurs

  Chapter 18: Overcoming Depression

  with Mindfulness

  If You Don’t Mind Your Mind,

  It Doesn’t Matter

  Seeing that thoughts are

  just thoughts, not facts

  Knowing that resistance is futile

  Yesterday and tomorrow:

  Living any time but now

  Imperfect Past Makes Future Tense!

  Living Mindfully

  Acquiring acceptance

  Connecting with experience:

  Life’s no spectator sport

  Chapter 19: Heading for Happiness through Positive Psychology

  Searching for Happiness

  Making the case for being happy

  Chasing rainbows : Looking for happiness in all the wrong places

  Getting Started on the

  Road to Happiness

  Appreciating the value of gratitude

  Helping others

  Getting in the groove: Feeling the flow

  Focusing on your strengths

  Rejecting the quick fix

  Letting go and forgiving

  Finding meaning and purpose

  Part VII: The Part of Tens

  Chapter 20: Ten Ways of Improving Your Mood

  Having a Little of What You Fancy

  Being Nice to Others

  Getting Moving: Exercising

  to Raise Your Spirits

  Singing Your Own Special Song

  Reuniting: Calling to Reconnect

  Letting Music Move You

  Washing Those Blues Away

  Getting a Pet

  Taking Time Out

  Mellowing Your Mood with Mindfulness

  Chapter 21: Ten Ways of Helping a Child

  with Depression

  Finding Fun

  Setting Boundaries

  Giving Feedback

  Climbing Every Mountain

  Reviewing Responsibilities

  Talking and Listening

  Recognising Depression

  Looking Beneath the Surface

  Accessing Assistance

  Loving Unconditionally

  Chapter 22: Ten Ways of Helping a Friend

  or Partner with Depression

  Recognising Depression

  Recommending Help

  Just Listening

  Taking Care of Yourself

  Biting Back Criticism

  No Offence: Appreciating

  That It’s Not Personal

  Practising Patience

  Showing That You Care

  Providing Encouragement

  and Staying Hopeful

  Enabling Exercise

  Appendix: Resources for You

  Overcoming Depression For Dummies®

  by Elaine Iljon Foreman, MSc, AFPBSs, Charles H. Elliott, PhD, and Laura L. Smith, PhD

  Foreword by Professor Mark Williams

  Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford

  Overcoming Depression For Dummies®

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  John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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  England

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  Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England

  Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex

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