This book contains some common sense advice, advocating exercise, sun exposure, socializing, healthy sleep habits, et cetera. When you filter out bull**it I'd say it's really a good book (that could have been compressed to a third of its current length if the author excluded naive patient stories and the like).
If people actually managed to change lifestyle in the manner advocated in the book, I bet most would get better. Recommended (assuming you have some tolerance for wordy writing, patient stories, etc.).
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OK, here's my take on depression: just about everyone is different. Some people are helped by diet and exercise, some people are helped by St. John's Wort, some are probably helped by the laying on of hands. Some are helped by some meds, some are helped by others, and for still others, maybe nothing works.
Depression is, in my experience, insidious. Here is my little story, and feel free to skip it.
I suffered a pretty severe bout with depression, and until I hit "rock bottom," i never even considered that I was depressed. Turns out I had "atypical depression," which is, yeah, not typical. And the symptoms can always be explained by other things--I was going to work every day, laughing, talking, socializing...I was not curled up in a fetal position on the sofa. BUT: I developed insomnia (but hey, everyone has times when they can't sleep, right?) I started waking up before the alarm clock, mind racing about what I had to do that day. Then I started waking up at 4:30, then 4... pretty soon I was waking up a 2 AM. It was great when I was waking up at 4--I'd go to 24 hour fitness and work out--hey, I'll work out, good for me, and that'll make me tired so I'll sleep better tonight! Great! And it sort of was, at first. But then I was up at 2 AM, and not so fun anymore, night after night, and I tried to convince myself that the nap I took every day when I came home from work was sufficient (I'd collapse on the sofa and sleep for 20 minutes after work). Of course it wasn't.
I started having panic attacks. While I've always been an anxious worry-wort, I'd never had the heart racing, cold sweat think you're having a heart attack full blown panic attack. It was horrible. This was a time when my work was pretty awful, and I convinced myself that having a panic attack on the way to work in the morning was normal (!!) because we were so busy and I was so devoted to my job and wanted to make everything work better. And the panic attack on the way HOME from work was because I didn't get everything done, but I'd go home and get a good night's sleep and be ready tomorrow... (but of course I wasn't sleeping).
I gained weight (but hey, who doesn't who works at a desk all day, right?). I started to get a little cranky with people (just a busy time at work). I stopped doing the stuff I enjoyed (who has time to go to the movies or read a book?). And I kept getting sick. I never had gotten sick before but I picked up a cold, it didn't go away, and I lived with bronchitis for a while (just a cough--I feel fine!) that eventually turned into double pneumonia and 3 days in the hospital.
But none of that clued me in that anything was wrong until I started driving to work and contemplating ramming my car into the concrete wall at high speed. (OK, I'll undo my seatbelt, and I'll have to figure out how to disable the airbags, because I want to make sure I die instead of just getting really hurt) and planning how to axphixiate myself in the garage with the car (dammit, in order to make that work I have to disable the catalytic converter, and I don't know how to do that, so I guess I'll go buy a generator...) and it was those thoughts that made me realize "HOLY SHIT! You are fucked up!!"
So I got help. The best help in the world was being able to SLEEP (to this day I'm convinced that the lack of sleep was the biggest problem that led pretty much to all the other crazy), and I was on meds for about a year, but I don't take anything now.
I know now that stress is a depression trigger for me, so I try very hard now to manage my stress. When all of the above happened, I had moved to a new city and taken a new job, and 10 days after I got there, my dad died unexpectedly. I didn't really process my dad's death and just THREW myself into the job, which was a hot mess, with a horrible boss... and the financial crisis hit, and the company was having issues, we couldn't keep employees, and they made me in charge of more than double the responsibilities after someone quit, because they didn't want to hire anyone else. And I was in a relationship with someone, and got pregnant, had a miscarriage, relationship ended, my mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's.... and with everything, I just kept throwing myself at the work because it was the one thing I knew how to do and had some measure of control over.
I'm good now, though I am careful to take a day off when I need to, and I don't bite off more than I can chew, and when I have a sleepless night or two, i pay attention, and if it becomes an issue (so far is hasn't), I'll deal with it properly. I actually probably live with a little depression all the time (hey, now I Know what it actually is!!) but I'd rather do that than deal with meds, none of which helped me much and all of which had side effects that affected other aspects of my life.
But if you talk to other people who have or who are dealing with depression, their symptoms and stories are probably going to be much different.
The only thing I can tell you is, don't try to diagnose and cure yourself. If you thought you had cancer or a broken leg or kidney failure, you wouldn't buy a book and try a diet. Well, maybe you would (OK, I would), but you'd also go to the doctor and get some help. Before you start researching how to disable your airbags or catalytic converter, research local docs in your area!
Oh, and here's my final tip: if you think you need inpatient treatment, research it first. I checked myself in to a facility when it got really bad, and like I said, after 2 days of good sleep, I was WAY better--not cured, but not suicidal, However, in the state I lived in, they actually have the right to keep you for a certain number of days, and even if you try to check yourself out, your doctor can keep you in for so many more days if he thinks it's best... so I was in for 9 days, 9 of the absolutely weirdest (but sort of entertaining, in retrospect) days of my life. If you need inpatient, absolutely do it... but if you need treatment, get it before you really need inpatient if at all possible. I was afraid I'd checked into Hotel California there for a while.....
I can write about all the now, since it's been several years ago. I don't think that depression and mental health issues have the stigma attached that they used to (no, I'm still not going to tell this story to my boss and coworkers and everyone I meet), but I think people are more able to talk about this stuff and hear the issues than people were several years ago.