Say goodbye to dreary shades of black and white and start seeing the world for the prism of color it is with this refreshing and creative guide In a unique combination of art, activities, and uplifting anecdotes, 21 Ways to a Happier Depression leads you on a hands-on journey to personal growth. Getting you out of one of "those moods" can be as simple as:
- Making the bed
- Nurturing a plant
- Painting shapes in loops and colors
- Breaking down your work into a to-do list
- Getting a fresh new look with some different d cor, or even a haircut
Inspired by his own life experience, Clinical Psychologist Seth Swirsky gently encourages positive introspection through honest and practical advice. With this book, a happier depression is literally in your hands
Conquer your self-defeating beliefs and create a more fulfilling life
Do you feel like you're broken? Are you depressed because you believe that you're somehow defective, unwanted, or inferior? Do you feel self-conscious and insecure, constantly comparing yourself to others? Are you sensitive to criticism, or terrified of rejection?
Feeling flawed and inadequate often stems from negative childhood experiences. If you grew up in a highly critical environment, you might feel unworthy of being loved, or have a deep sense of shame about your perceived defects. You may tell yourself there is something inherently wrong with you that prevents you from forming satisfying relationships, finding happiness, and succeeding in life. So, how can free yourself from the self-defeating beliefs that keep you trapped in the depths of depression?
Grounded in evidence-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this workbook will give you the tools to identify and dismiss your core beliefs of personal defectiveness, and build a life based on positive choices and values that bring vitality and a sense of personal fulfillment. You'll discover ways to develop psychological flexibility, freeing yourself from old habits and unhealthy coping mechanisms, and alleviating symptoms of depression. Finally, you'll learn to see yourself in all your wonderful complexity, with kindness and compassion.
The truth is you are not broken, and painful memories of the past do not have to dictate your future. If you're ready to heal and treat yourself to the care and compassion you deserve, this book will show you how.
It's not just big choices that can radically change our lives--sometimes it's the small ones. Activating Happiness offers powerful, evidence-based strategies to help you conquer low motivation, nix negative moods, and defeat depression by actively making positive choices in small, everyday moments.
If you have depression or just suffer from low mood and lack of motivation, you know that your life isn't going to change with one grand, sweeping gesture. But you can make important decisions every day--whether it's getting off the couch and going for a walk, signing up for a course in pottery or screenwriting, or just setting aside some time to meet and chat with a good friend over coffee. These little things won't change your life all at once. But over time, they will shape the way you live and see the world and keep you on a path to wellness.
In Activating Happiness, you'll find solid strategies based in behavioral activation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break the cycle of avoidance, guilt, shame, and hopelessness that can take hold when you're feeling your lowest. Using this guide, you'll find little, doable ways to "show up" to your life, get the ball rolling, and start really feeling better, instead of just reassuring others. You'll learn to set healthy goals for your body like eating and sleeping well, as well as healthy goals for your mind. Most importantly, you'll discover how to view your life through the lens of your own deepest values, which will spark a commitment to real, lasting change.
The best thing about change is that you can start anywhere. By building a life--moment by moment--of rewarding behaviors that correspond to your values, you have the recipe for getting and staying well at your fingertips. This book will guide your way.
"I have Stayed. I have Stayed - I have Stayed for as long as I possibly can."
Three generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy. Alice Birch's Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning play is a powerful exploration of inter-generational trauma, told across three interlinking narratives.
From identifying your triggers to improving your relationships -- manage your emotional wellbeing
Struggling to cope with anxiety and/or depression? Have no fear -- this hands-on guide focuses on helping you pinpoint the root of your problems and find relief from your symptoms in a detailed, step-by-step manner. With concise, eye-opening exercises, you'll understand how to assess your current situation, remove the roadblocks to change, face your fears, and improve your view of yourself and the world around you. You'll see how to take direct action to alter negative or distorted thinking, lift your moods, and adopt positive habits that will lead you toward a more joyful, meaningful, and connected life
Discover
* How to improve the way you feel about yourself
* Skills to face and overcome what makes you anxious or depressed
* How to determine whether medication is an option for you
* Practical ways to prepare for and deal with setbacks
Anxiety, depression, and other mental afflictions are regretfully shunned by a society that favors winners. Losers are discarded or left to their own devices in most cases, like I was. This book is an inside, non-medical, non-scientific look inside the brain and life of a person whose life has been dominated by anxiety with a good measure of depression thrown in. It is a summary of methods that the author has employed to fight an invisible lifelong foe, the way the methods were discovered, and their effect. The objective is to provide the sufferer with the feeling that they are not alone, that there is someone else out there like "me." The first person is used to bring reality to this struggle and to give examples--some humorous in a self-depreciative way--of how things worked out. There is a slow buildup over time of an understanding of the issues that the medicine of the time was not able to provide and mostly does not provide today. At the end, values are assigned in a general sense to more than eighty-five methods (used over about sixty-four years of living) found in this book.
Advice: Do not buy this book and give it to someone else without reading it first to find out in your own opinion if it will be helpful to them. If you do and I find out about it, I will hunt you down and give you a solid thrashing. If you want to tell your friends that you were recently thrashed by a senior citizen, don't take my advice.
On July 24th, 2004, author Graeme Cowan took pen to paper and said goodbye to his family. "I just can't be a burden any longer," he wrote. After four failed suicide attempts, and a five-year episode of depression that his psychiatrist described as the worst he had ever treated, Cowan set out on a difficult journey back from the brink. Since then, he has dedicated his life to helping others struggling with depression and bipolar disorder--and that is how this book came to be.
If you have severe depression or bipolar disorder, it is important to remember that you are not alone. Featuring interviews with people from of all walks of life, Back from the Brink is filled with real stories of hope and healing, information about treatment options and medication, and tools for putting what you've learned into practice. If you are ready to put one foot in front of the other and finally set out on the path to recovery, the powerful stories in this book will inform and inspire you to make lasting change. If you have severe depression or bipolar disorder, you may find it difficult to take that first step toward recovery. You aren't alone. In our society, many people with depression or bipolar disorder do not seek therapy or medical treatment due to the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Even people in "progressive" communities may not want to admit that they are on antidepressants or mood-balancing medications. Isn't it time we changed the way we thought about these illnesses? The book includes a special foreword by actress Glenn Close, and features in-depth interviews with former US Representative Patrick Kennedy; television talk-show host Trisha Goddard; director of public policy at Google, Bob Boorstin; former chief advisor to Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell; former tennis pro, Cliff Richey; former professional football player, Greg Montgomery; and many more.
A reporter for "The Washington Post" describes her life-long struggle with depression, recounting her painful efforts to comprehend and treat her illness
Mild depressions are so insidious that sufferers often don't seek help. They think, that's just the way I am. There's really not much I can do about it. As Dr. Michael Thase and science writer Susan S. Lang reveal, they can do something about it. Persistent mild depression, which afflicts up to 35 million Americans, can be readily and permanently cured.
In Beating the Blues, Thase and Lang show how chronic mild depression can be relieved by learning strategies that help sufferers to recognize and change negative and distorted thinking patterns that lead to a downward spiral of pessimism. They reveal that a combination of medication and therapy has been shown to be the most effective treatment for mild depression, with an impressive 85% of patients experiencing full relief. Thase and Lang also discuss when a person should seek help from a therapist and what kinds of therapy seem the most effective. They outline the safer new antidepressants that are helpful for both mild and severe depressions, detailing each drug's strength and weakness; and examine alternative therapies, including stress management, physical exercise, acupuncture, supplements, and other mind/body therapies. Finally, they provide in-depth discussions of mild depression in children, adolescents, college students, and elderly parents, as well as those with chronic stress.
Beating the Blues is an inspiring and empowering book, offering everything a person needs to know in order to overcome mild depression.
