It may be difficult for those suffering from depression to add a little work into their day; simply getting out of bed can seem like plenty of work. But if you are newly diagnosed or experiencing moderate problems with depression or bipolar disorder, The Depression Workbook might be a literal lifesaver.

The first section is especially useful to new patients just learning to navigate the signs, treatments, and vocabulary of depression. Clearly written overviews of specific symptoms are coupled with space for you to write in your own thoughts on treatment, prognosis, and your ultimate goals. Checklists and daily planners help to identify both areas of difficulty and positive experiences; later in the book, you'll find charts for tracking medications, diet, and doctor visits.

A full section is devoted to the establishment and maintenance of a support group. Ideas range from open discussions with family members to seeking out volunteer work, and it's this section that may be the trickiest for the depressed to work through. Finding the strength to make new friends may seem impossible at first, but author Mary Ellen Copeland spreads plenty of warmth, encouragement, and personal experience among her directives.

Sometimes, the legacy of depression includes a wisdom beyond one's years, a depth of passion unexperienced by those who haven't traveled to hell and back. Off the charts in its enlightening, comprehensive analysis of this pervasive yet misunderstood condition, The Noonday Demon forges a long, brambly path through the subject of depression--exposing all the discordant views and "answers" offered by science, philosophy, law, psychology, literature, art, and history. The result is a sprawling and thoroughly engrossing study, brilliantly synthesized by author Andrew Solomon.

Deceptively simple chapter titles (including "Breakdowns," "Treatments," "Addiction," "Suicide") each sit modestly atop a virtual avalanche of Solomon's intellect. This is not a book to be skimmed. But Solomon commands the language--and his topic--with such grace and empathy that the constant flow of references, poems, and quotations in his paragraphs arrive like welcome dinner guests. A longtime sufferer of severe depression himself, Solomon willingly shares his life story with readers. He discusses updated information on various drugs and treatment approaches while detailing his own trials with them. He describes a pharmaceutical company's surreal stage production (involving Pink Floyd, kick dancers, and an opener à la Cats) promoting a new antidepressant to their sales team. He chronicles his research visits to assorted mental institutions, which left him feeling he would "much rather engage with every manner of private despair than spend a protracted time" there. Under Solomon's care, however, such tales offer much more than shock value. They show that depression knows no social boundaries, manifests itself quite differently in each person, and has become political. And, while it may worsen or improve, depression will never be eradicated. Hope lies in finding ways--as Solomon clearly has--to harness its powerful lessons.--Liane Thomas

Self-healing can be a long journey--one that starts with having to wade through miles of misinformation and flavor-of-the-week hype. In an attempt to help sort out the hodgepodge of material on various methods of improving your health, Jane Brody and Denise Grady have assembled a book filled with carefully analyzed articles written by themselves and the reporters of The New York Times. Insightful and informative, The New York Times Guide to Alternative Health doesn't present a specific how-to plan for anyone; rather, it provides readers with a practical reference tool for everything from herbs to homeopathy.

The chapters are divided into general categories, most of which involve items that are ingested. Herbs, foods, minerals, vitamins, combination supplements... the list seems endless. Remaining chapters are devoted to a variety of more physical remedies like tai chi, acupuncture, massage, and meditation. In every case, you'll find a distinctive newspaper style quite different from the personal--not to say touchy-feely--format of most alternative health books. After noting the studies and statistics cited, even the hardiest skeptics may decide to add a daily multivitamin or reconsider hormone replacement therapy. Some of the writers are the biggest skeptics around; as one says on the topic of vitamin-rich cosmetics, "I've been known to skip the workout and just tone my eyelashes." Whether you're a chronic doubter or have a tendency to believe everything you read, this guide has a deserved spot on the shelf, especially as a reference for double-checking suggestions from Web sites, well-meaning friends, or other less
straightforward sources.

From Publishers Weekly: Tooth removal. Bloodletting. Spinning. Ice-water baths. Electroshock therapy. These are only a few of the horrifying treatments for mental illness readers encounter in this accessible history of Western attitudes toward insanity. Whitaker, a medical writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, argues that mental asylums in the U.S. have been run largely as "places of confinement facilities that served to segregate the misfits from society rather than as hospitals that provided medical care." His evidence is at times frightening, especially when he compares U.S. physicians' treatments of the mentally ill to medical experiments and sterilizations in Nazi Germany. Eugenicist attitudes, Whitaker argues, profoundly shaped American medicine in the first half of the 20th century, resulting in forced sterilization and other cruel treatments. Between 1907 and 1927, roughly 8,000 eugenic sterilizations were performed, while 10,000 mentally ill Americans were lobotomized in the years 1950 and 1951 alone. As late as 1933, there were no states in which insane people could legally get married. Though it covers some of the same territory as Sander Gilman's Seeing the Insane and Elaine Showalter's The Female Malady, Whitaker's richer, more detailed book will appeal to those interested in medical history, as well as anyone fascinated by Western culture's obsessive need to define and subdue the mentally ill.

In this age of do-it-yourself health care (heck, if the doctor only sees you for 10 minutes each visit, what other options are there?), Change Your Brain, Change Your Life fits in perfectly. Filled with "brain prescriptions" (among them cognitive exercises and nutritional advice) that are geared toward readers who've experienced anxiety, depression, impulsiveness, excessive anger or worry, and obsessive behavior, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life milks the mind-body
connection for all it's worth.

Written by a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has also authored a book on attention deficit disorder, Change Your Brain contains dozens of brain scans of patients with various neurological problems, from caffeine, nicotine, and heroin addiction to manic-depression to epilepsy. These scans, often showing large gaps in neurological activity or areas of extreme overactivity, are downright frightening to look at, and Dr. Amen should know better than to resort to such scare tactics. But he should also be commended for advocating natural remedies, including deep breathing, guided imagery, meditation, self-hypnosis, and biofeedback for treating disorders that are so frequently dealt with by prescription only. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

BRAIN PRESCRIPTIONS THAT REALLY WORK
In this breakthrough bestseller, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with. Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain
prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life:
To Quell Anxiety and Panic:
* Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil
To Fight Depression:
* Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)
To Curb Anger:
* Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
To Conquer Impulsiveness and Learn to Focus:
* Develop total focus with the "One-Page Miracle"
To Stop Obsessive Worrying:
* Follow the "get unstuck" writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exe

A powerful new guide to healing anxiety and depression.

This book introduces the revolutionary concept of self-coaching that will appeal to a very broad market. Nearly everyone has suffered from mild anxiety or depression at some point in his or her life, and a very large percentage of people suffer from clinical anxiety or depression. The effects of these two illnesses can be devastating. In this inspiring, practical book, readers will learn tools that will help them overcome many cases of anxiety and depression without having to see a therapist or take medication. Written by a clinical psychologist with twenty-two years of experience in private practice, Self-Coaching gives readers a positive motivational technique called Self-talk to heal themselves. Self-Coaching presents the dramatic stories of Dr. Luciani's patients, along with his own story of suffering from anxiety. Providing simple and practical psychological action steps, Dr. Luciani's unique coaching and motivational program teaches readers how to break through the patterns of thinking that feed anxiety and depression. Once they break through, Self-Coaching shows how a healthy, adaptive way of living can become a realistic choice.

A beautifully written and evocative memoir of pain and redemption, of hurt and healing, from an actress whose private life and personal choices have made her a household name.

"My life is a life movies are made of," wrote Anne Heche in the proposal for her memoir. Yet what is truly surprising about Heche is that the most publicized event of her past -- her romance with Ellen DeGeneres -- is only one development in a fascinating and difficult life that has included more than its share of heartache and tragedy.

Heche's memoir reveals the woman behind the headlines, one who has conquered overwhelming odds. Far from a celebrity memoir, this is an empowering and thought-provoking book guaranteed to surprise and inspire.

Many psychiatrists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) produced by the American Psychiatric Association as not only their bible but also their daily practice manual. Walker, a psychiatrist himself, points out that the DSM has encouraged practitioners to label patients quickly rather than pursue the more time-consuming, deductive work of differential diagnosis. Labeling leads to fitting patients willy-nilly into groups rather than treating them as the individuals they are by carefully taking medical histories and performing physical examinations. Walker presents many appalling examples of patients who were routinely assigned DSM labels that then became masks for such often dangerous physical diseases as bowel blockage, lupus, brain tumors, and Tourette's and Klinefelter's syndromes. One case that leaps out is that of a Holocaust survivor who, diagnosed with severe depression, in reality had recrudescent typhus. Furthering his indictment, Walker stresses that many of the masked diseases are treatable if caught early and that many of the drugs psychiatrists prescribe are dangerous or addictive...Booklist.

"A reader on melancholy," the editor calls this book: a collection of 22 modern essays about depression by writers (several well known) who know their subject intimately. Some face depression as a sudden interruption of a previously gratifying life; others have never known life without it. Their words wrestle to express their vision, their gloom, their attempts to cope, their interactions, their isolation, and, often, their reactions to medications. Some attempt to analyze their depression; others just want you to know what it's like. Besides the essays by writers who have experienced depression firsthand, editor Nell Casey (also a writer of one of the chapters) includes a few essays by their spouses and siblings about what it was like to live with a person suffering from depression.

The writers' descriptions of "dwelling in depression's dark wood" (William Styron) are disturbing and haunting, laden with vivid imagery. "My heart pumped dread," writes Lesley Dormen. David Karp describes his depression as sometimes a "grief knot" in his throat, sometimes chest pain like a heart attack, sometimes "an awful heaviness" in his eyes and head. From her teenage years, Darcey Steinke would wrap herself in an old comforter and lie in a fetal position on top of her shoes in the closet (her brother called this her "poodle bed"). Nancy Mairs describes being institutionalized: "Lock [a woman] into a drab and dirty space with dozens of other wayward souls, make sure that she is never alone, feed her oatmeal and bananas until her bowels are starched solid, drug her to the eyeballs so that she can scarcely read or speak, and threaten to shoot bolts of electricity through her brain." If you want to know depression from the inside, from thoroughly gifted writers, you'll find it here. --Joan Price

A must-read for anyone dealing with depression, The Omega-3 Connection by Andrew L. Stoll, M.D., strikes yet another blow against the standard American diet. We already know that years of noshing on highly processed foods have saddled us with sky-high rates of heart disease, obesity, and related conditions. But, as we're starting to understand now, our eating habits may also be subtly altering our brain chemistry, leaving us vulnerable to anxiety disorders and depression. Only in this case, it's not just what we're eating--it's what we're not eating: foods containing omega-3 essential fatty acids--the "good fats" that help maintain optimal brain function.

In his book, Stoll, the director of the psychopharmacology research lab at Boston's McLean Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, suggests that restoring our body's natural balance of omega-3s may help alleviate (and prevent) many types of depression--even for those who don't respond to traditional antidepressants. Omega-3s may also prove helpful with other problems, such as the inability to handle stress, memory loss, and cognitive decline. The book contains a "renewal plan" designed to help readers put Stoll's concepts into practice, recipes for omega-3-rich dishes, advice for choosing supplements, and dosages for therapeutic use.

Although Stoll is quick with the caveat that much of the research on omega-3s and brain function is still evolving, he makes a compelling case for using these fats to regulate depression and other cognitive disorders. Along with major epidemiological evidence that shows lower rates of depression in those cultures that consume a great deal of omega-3s, Stoll's own studies indicate that boosting their intake can reduce depression symptoms. And Stoll cites stacks of additional studies suggesting that omega-3s can also help with major depression, schizophrenia, and postpartum depression. Going even further, Stoll makes a strong argument that omega-3 deficiency could be contributing to rising rates of teen violence and attention deficit disorders.

Of course, depression should never be treated without physician supervision. But in laying the groundwork for the omega-3s to emerge as the next big thing in natural depression therapy, Stoll certainly gives us food for thought. --Norine Dworkin

For some people, depression has been a part of their experience for so long that they've begun to believe it's what they are. They become experts at "doing" depression--hiding it, working around it, even achieving great things (but at the price of great struggle, and little satisfaction). In this book, psychotherapist Richard O'Conner shows us how to "undo" depression, by replacing depressive patterns of thinking, relating, and behaving with a new and more effective set of skills. With a truly holistic approach that synthesizes the best of the many schools of thought about this painful disease, O'Conner offers new hope--and new life--for depressives.

There is currently a raging debate regarding "recovered memories" of sexual abuse. Essentially, the debate boils down to the question of "massive repression." Can human beings completely forget years of traumatic events, only to recall them later? Victims of Memory is the most comprehensive, scholarly book available on the subject. It covers many fascinating topics, including human memory research, infantile amnesia, hypnosis, multiple personality disorder, ritual abuse, interviews with those on all sides, religious aspects of the debate, legal battles, historical perspectives, and more.

What the Reviewers Say:

"An impressive display of scholarship...a comprehensive treatment of the recovered-memories controversy.... Pendergrast demonstrates a laudable ability to lay out all sides of the argument...." --Daniel L. Schacter, Scientific American

An even-handed treatment that presents all the different positions with empathy. --Psychological Reports

Anyone touched by the subject of repressed memories would do well to read this book. -- Burton Einspruch, M.D., Journal of the American Medical Association

Victims of Memory constitutes the most ambitious and comprehensive, as well as the most emotionally committed, of all the studies before us. Pendergrast devotes the most effort to analyzing the contemporary Zeitgeist in which the recovery movement thrives. --Frederick Crews, The New York Review of Books

Pendergrast has written a well-researched and important book, and his findings should rightfully scare all of us. Pendergrast makes a strong case that what began as a way to empower women has now victimized them, isolating them from friends, families, and their true memories. This is a book sure to spark a long-overdue debate, and it deserves to be on library shelves, right beside The Courage to Heal. --Ilene Cooper, Booklist

Margo Bouer went from a delinquent adolescent treated with electro-convulsive treatments and psychiatric hospitalization to becoming a psychiatric professional herself. She matured quickly and survived in an adult world. This is the story of a lost childhood due to exposure to shock treatment and a need to survive.

About the Author

Margo Bouer is a retired psychotherapist and psychiatric nurse currently residing in Southern California with her husband and pets. She was termed a delinquent, subsequently subjected to electro-convulsive treatments and psychiatric hospitalization as a child. She escaped from her dysfunctional family and forged a life for herself by maturing quickly and surviving in an adult world. She entered the fields of psychiatry and psychoanalytic therapy, but her underlying fear was always having her past exposed. This is the story of a lost childhood due to exposure to shock treatment and a need to survive.