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Depression For Dummies®
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www.dummies.com and search for “Depression
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Discovering Depression and Preparing a Plan
Chapter 1: Demystifying and Defeating Depression
Just Singing the Blues or Depressed?
The Varying Faces of Depression
Adding Up the Costs of Depression
Feeling Good Again
Feeling Better Than Good
Celebrating Sadness
Chapter 2: Detecting Depression
Recognizing the Ravages of Depression
The Faces of Depression
Good Grief! Is Depression Ever Normal?
Digging Out the Causes of Depression
Monitoring Mood
Chapter 3: When Bad Things Happen
Loss and Depression During a Pandemic
Financial Stressors
Discrimination and Depression
Domestic Violence and Depression
Disasters and Depression
Chapter 4: Breaking Barriers to Change
Flushing Out the Fear of Change
Finding Change-Blocking Beliefs
Saving Yourself from Self-Limitations
Chapter 5: Finding Help for Depression
Stumbling onto a Solution
Pursuing the Psychotherapy Option
Talking to a Professional about Antidepressant Medication
Exploring the Self-Help Option
Part 2: Understanding and Accepting Thoughts and
Feelings
Chapter 6: Understanding the Thought/Feeling
Connection
Understanding Emotions
Interpreting Thoughts
Exploring Emotion-Driven Behavior
Chapter 7: Defeating Distorted Thinking
Recognizing Thought Distortions
Making Misjudgments
Chapter 8: Rethinking Thoughts Lurking Behind
Depression
Building a Thought, Feeling, and Event Tracker
Finding Adaptive Replacement Thoughts
Opening a Thought-Repair Toolkit
Chapter 9: Accepting Thoughts and Feelings
Avoiding Avoidance
Drawing the Line Between You and Your Mind
Losing Your Mind
Living Mindfully
Chapter 10: Thinking the Worst: Suicide
Warning Signs of Suicide in Adults
Recognizing Signs in Children and Teens
Choosing Life and Getting Help
Part 3: Taking Action Against Depression
Chapter 11: Getting Out of Bed
Taking Action
Putting One Foot in Front of the Other: Activity Logs
Conquering Can’ts
Charting Your Course through Negative Predictions
Giving Yourself Credit
Chapter 12: Working Out to Lift Depression
Why Exercise?
Conquering Couch Potato-itis
Easing into Exercise
Weighing Your Exercise Options
Chapter 13: Rediscovering Healthy Pleasures
Taking Fun Seriously
Making a List and Checking It Twice
Fighting the Pleasure Busters
Chapter 14: Solving Life’s Headaches
Drawing Up the Problem-Solving Game Plan — S.O.C.C.E.R.
Assessing Your Problem Situation (S)
Foraging for Options (O)
Contemplating Consequences (C)
Choosing Your Plan (C)
Handling Your Emotions (E)
Running and Reviewing (R)
Part 4: Rebuilding Connections
Chapter 15: Working Through Loss, Grief, and
Mourning
Losing What You Care About
Working Through Grief
Chapter 16: Relationship Enhancement
The Depression-Rejection Connection
Pursuing Positives
Defeating Defensiveness
Getting Your Message Across
Part 5: Fighting the Physical Foe: Biological Therapies
Chapter 17: Prescribing Pleasure
Hammering Depression: Choosing the Right Tool
Exploring the Medication Option
Working with Your Doctor to Find the Correct Medication
The Seductive Myth of Chemical Imbalance
Plunging into Placebos
Drugs for Depression
Looking Beyond Antidepressants
Chapter 18: Hype, Help, or Hope? Alternative
Treatments for Depression
Keeping Your Doc in the Loop
Exploring Supplements, Herbs, and Vitamins
Happy Foods
Lighting Up the Darkness
Treating Severe Depression
Searching Further
Part 6: Looking Beyond Depression
Chapter 19: Reducing the Risk of Relapse
Risking Relapse with Depression
Preparing a Prevention Plan
Reining In Relapse When It Occurs
Chapter 20: Mending Your Memory
Making Sense of Memory
Depressing Disruptions on Your Memory
Worrying about Forgetting
Boosting Broken Memory
Chapter 21: Pursuing Happiness
The Elusiveness of Happiness
Getting on the Right Path to Real Happiness
Part 7: The Part of Tens
Chapter 22: Ten Ways Out of a Bad Mood
Chomping on Chocolate
Doing Something Nice
Getting a Lift from Exercise
Singing Yourself into a Better Mood
Calling a Long-Lost Friend
Dancing to a Different Beat
Soaking the Blues Away
Petting Your Way to a Better Mood
Taking a Hike
Mellowing Through Mindfulness
Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Help Kids with Depression
Finding Fun
Doling Out Discipline
Giving Feedback
Climbing Every Mountain
Revving Up Responsibilities
Talking and Listening
Recognizing Depression
Looking Under Rocks
Getting Help
Loving No Matter What
Chapter 24: Ten Ways to Help a Friend or Lover with
Depression
Recognizing Depression
Referring for Help
Listening Without Solving
Taking Care of Yourself
Holding Criticism at Bay
Depersonalizing Depression
Finding Patience
Remembering to Care
Providing Encouragement and Remaining Hopeful
Exhorting Exercise
Appendix: Resources for You
Books on Mental Health
Resources to Help Children
Helpful Websites
Index
About the Authors
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
TABLE 2-1 Depressed Thoughts Quiz
TABLE 2-2 Depressed Behavior Quiz
TABLE 2-3 Depression and Relationships Quiz
TABLE 2-4 Depression in the Body Quiz
TABLE 2-5 Potentially Depressing Drugs
TABLE 2-6 Weekly Mood Diary
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Hayden’s Advantages and Disadvantages Analysis
TABLE 4-2 Morgan’s Self-Limiting Diary
Chapter 7
TABLE 7-1 Brandon’s Reality Scrambler Tracker
TABLE 7-2 Practice Finding Reality Scramblers
TABLE 7-3 Label Replacement Strategy
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Sharif’s Thought Tracker
TABLE 8-2 Ramon’s Thought Tracker
TABLE 8-3 Ramon’s Thoughts on Trial Form
TABLE 8-4 George’s Thought Tracker
TABLE 8-5 George’s Thoughts on Trial Form
Chapter 11
TABLE 11-1 Activity Log
TABLE 11-2 Negating Negative Predictions Chart
Chapter 12
TABLE 12-1 Defeating Demotivating Thoughts
Chapter 13
TABLE 13-1 Firing Your Mind’s Faulty Forecaster
Chapter 14
TABLE 14-1 Common Solution-Interfering Beliefs and Some Facilitating
Views
TABLE 14-2 Likely Consequences of Adele’s Options
Chapter 16
TABLE 16-1 Relationship Hot Buttons (Core Beliefs)
TABLE 16-2 The I Messages Technique
Chapter 19
TABLE 19-1 Relapse Quiz
TABLE 19-2 Alec’s Satisfaction Tracker
TABLE 19-3 Annette’s Satisfaction Interrupters
List of Illustrations
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: The usual path of progress with depression.
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Adele’s problem-solving flow chart.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Bruce’s attempt to process his grief.
FIGURE 15-2: Eileen’s letter to her ex-husband.
Introduction
Decadent luxuries, dazzling technology, and startling new knowledge
flood the senses and excite the imagination. What was the domain of
science fiction less than a generation ago is now commonplace in many
living rooms. Today, cable companies beam recently released movies to
inches-thick televisions that hang on walls. All you have to do is press a
few buttons on your remote control and your home is a cinema. And,
with a couple of words to your virtual assistant, you can order a pizza
that arrives in time for the start of the movie.
In the field of healthcare, advancing knowledge of the immune system
promises new cancer treatments that go to the source of the disease.
Nanotechnology eventually will allow inconceivably small machines to
clean out congested arteries like a plumber’s snake. And the human
genome project begins to solve the mysteries behind countless inherited
diseases. Sure, the world still has plenty of problems, but solutions for
many of them lie on the horizon.
Yet the World Health Organization paints a less optimistic picture. It
estimates that on any given day, 264 million people worldwide suffer
from depression. Over the course of a year, about 10 percent of the
world’s population suffer from an episode of depression. Depression
rates continue to increase. And most experts believe that the increase is
real — not just a result of more people seeking help.
Theories abound concerning the alarming increase in depression today.
But regardless of the cause, this scourge robs its victims of happiness,
joy, and the capacity to give and receive love.
The good news is that more weapons exist for defeating depression than
ever before. Clinicians have devised new psychotherapies that have been
verified as effective in treating depression and preventing relapse.
Medications, methods of stimulating key nerve centers, and other
psychotherapies continue to be refined and developed. The majority of
people no longer need to suffer with long-standing, intractable
depression.
About This Book
We have two primary goals in writing this book. First, we want you to
understand the nature of depression. Understanding depression makes
the idea of dealing with it less frightening. Second, we present what
you’re probably most interested in discovering — how to overcome your
depression or help someone you love who has depression.
We leave no stone unturned in our quest to bring you every possible
means for battling depression. We draw strategies for defeating
depression from the fields of medicine and psychotherapy. We tell you
about the arsenal of medications and other strategies that can combat
depression. We show you how focusing on your overall health with
exercise and nutrition can pay off. Plus, we extract elements from the
psychotherapeutic approaches that have stood up to the tests of rigorous
research and been verified as highly effective treatments for depression.
These approaches include
Cognitive therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Behavior therapy
Interpersonal and relationship therapy
Then we go one step further. We turn to the field of positive psychology
for ideas on navigating your way from feeling good again to feeling even
better. We want you to make your life more joyful and more meaningful.
Depression For Dummies offers you the best advice available based on
scientific research. We believe that, if you practice the techniques and
strategies we provide in this book, you’ll very likely feel better. For
some people, this book may be a complete guide for defeating mild
depression. Numerous studies show that self-help often works.
However, depression frequently needs more care and attention than you
can receive through self-help. If your depression significantly hinders
your ability to work or play, you need to get professional help. No book
can completely replace therapy. Start by seeing your family doctor. If
you’re seeing a therapist or counselor, you may find that Depression For
Dummies can help augment your therapy. Be sure to discuss that
possibility with your therapist. Depression can be conquered, so please
don’t give up.
Foolish Assumptions
Who would want to read this book? We assume, perhaps foolishly, that
you or someone you love suffers from depression. We also figure that
you want to banish depression from your life. Finally, we imagine that
you’re curious about a variety of helpful strategies that can fit your
lifestyle and personality. If these descriptions strike a chord, this book is
for you.
On the other hand, you may be a professional who is looking for a good,
easy-to-understand resource for your patients who suffer from
depression. Readers over the years have told us that our For Dummies
books on mental health issues have been helpful in both their recovery
and their understanding of what they’re dealing with in therapy.
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book, we use icons in the margins to quickly point out
different types of information. Here are the icons you’ll see and a few
words about what they mean.
As the name of this icon implies, we don’t want you to forget the
information that accompanies it.
This icon emphasizes pieces of practical information or bits of
insight that you can put to work.
This icon appears when you need to be careful or seek
professional help.
This piece of art alerts you to information that you may find
interesting, but not reading it won’t put you at a disadvantage in the
battle against depression.
Beyond the Book
There is a free Cheat Sheet available online. Go to www.dummies.com
and type “Depression For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. The
cheat sheet gives you signs that you may be depressed, some depression
dos and don’ts, as well resources to get professional help.
Where to Go from Here
Most books are written so that you have to start on page one and read
straight through. But we wrote Depression For Dummies so that you can
use the detailed Table of Contents to pick and choose what you want to
read based on your individual interests. Don’t worry too much about
reading chapters and parts in any particular order. Read whatever
chapters apply to your situation. However, we suggest that you at least
skim Part 1 because it contains a variety of fascinating facts as well as
important ideas for getting started.
In addition, the more severe your depression, the more we urge you to
start with Chapter 5 and continue with Part 3. These chapters contain a
variety of ways for overcoming the powerful inertia that keeps severely
depressed people from taking actions. After you read those chapters, feel
free to continue picking and choosing what topics you want to explore.
Part 1
Discovering Depression and
Preparing a Plan
