Distilling years of experience in educating psychiatric patients
and their families about depression, Jon Allen has written a
practical book that addresses the challenges depressed patients
face on the road to recovery. Allen advocates approaching
depression by focusing on the importance of hope, and he helps
patients understand depression through two simple ideas: catch-22
and stress pileup.
This book conveys how the symptoms of depression impede all the
things depressed persons must do to recover, thus defusing
self-criticism while encouraging patients to take satisfaction in
small steps toward improvement. And the concept of stress pileup
encompasses a developmental perspective respecting the full range
of accumulated biological, psychological, and interpersonal
stresses that play into depression. This broad understanding helps
patients become more compassionate toward themselves and puts them
in a stronger position to make use of professional care.
Coping With Depression is written for a general audience,
including depressed persons and their family members, as well as
professionals seeking a readable integration of current knowledge
that they can use to educate their patients. Although written in
nontechnical language, the book provides a sophisticated and
comprehensive understanding of the psychological development of
depression, the neurobiology of the illness, and the full range of
evidence-based treatment modalities. All material is buttressed by
extensive references to theoretical, clinical, and research
literature.
Coping With Depression emphasizes the concept of agency,
encouraging readers to take an active role in their recovery.
Countering today's trend toward exclusive reliance on
antidepressant medication, the book employs the perspective of
developmental psychopathology to integrate psychosocial and
neurobiological knowledge. The book explains how biological
vulnerability is intertwined with stress stemming from insecure
attachment, childhood adversity, stressful life events, emotional
conflicts, and problems in close relationships. Going far beyond
the "chemical imbalance," the author illustrates how the experience
of depression is linked to changes in patterns of brain activity as
evidenced by neuroimaging studies. Coping With Depression will help
readers - understand the development of depression from a
biopsychosocial perspective- appreciate how depression is
compounded by related conditions, including bipolar disorder,
anxiety disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, general
medical conditions, and suicidal states- understand how recovering
from depression entails working on many fronts, including improving
physical health, participating in pleasurable activities,
countering negative thinking, resolving internal conflicts,
and-above all-establishing more stable and secure attachment
relationships- become knowledgeable about the treatment options
that facilitate coping, including cognitive-behavioral,
interpersonal, and psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as
medication and combined treatment- appreciate the centrality of
hope in recovery from depression and the challenges to hope that
depression poses
To maintain hope, patients, their family members, and clinicians
must face the seriousness of the illness of depression and the
daunting obstacles to recovery, including catch-22 in all of its
manifestations. Throughout the book, Allen reiterates the theme of
agency: depressed persons can use their intelligence to understand
their illness and do something to recover and remain well, making
use of help from others along the way.
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