Depression: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

New Harbinger Guides for the Newly Diagnosed

by Lee H. Coleman

Depression is the most common mental health condition in the United States. In fact, up to one in five women and one in ten men will experience it in their lifetimes. Because it’s so prevalent, it’s sometimes called the common cold of psychiatric illnesses. Of course, this flip attitude is completely misguided. If you suffer from depression, then you know how debilitating it is, and how it can drastically affect your day-to-day life.

If you’ve recently been diagnosed with depression, you probably have a few questions about the road to recovery that lies ahead. You might wonder what the best treatments are for your symptoms, how to tell if you’re making progress, and who, if anyone, you should tell about your diagnosis.

In Depression: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed, you’ll find which treatments are right for you and learn what you can expect from the recovery process. You will discover simple changes to your sleep and nutrition habits that can really make a difference and learn how to monitor your progress as you start feeling better so you can adjust treatment as needed. With this guide helping you along in your recovery, you can be among the millions of people who have come back from depression stronger, healthier, and happier than before.

This book is a part of New Harbinger Publications' Guides for the Newly Diagnosed series.The series was created to help people who have recently been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Our goal is to offer user-friendly resources that provide answers to common questions readers may have after receiving a diagnosis, as well as evidence-based strategies to help them cope with and manage their condition, so that they can get back to living a more balanced life.

Visit www.newharbinger.com for more books in this series.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health

184 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2012

Reviews

[Gints · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paņēmu, jo bija pa rokai. Nav nekāds dzīvi mainošais brīnums un īpaši neko jaunu neuzzināju. Citādi - varētu būt tīri labs pirmais pieturas punkts cilvēkiem, kam līdz šim ar depresiju nav bijis sakars.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good, basic guide to what to do if you have depression. The author gives a nice overview, including what symptoms to look out for, how to get a diagnosis, what treatment options there are, and what to do after the depressive episode ends. There's a whole chapter devoted to suicidality, which is pretty important, and another one about comorbid illnesses, which is useful if a bit short. Really, that's my feeling on this as a whole: it's a nice basic guide, but the emphasis is on basic. There tends to be a certain amount of repetition, and often things are covered in a relatively simple way. The chapter of further resources at the end is nice, though I found the citations of various papers and studies throughout to be a bit distracting. It might've been nice for me to have when I first dealt with depression, but as it is, there's not a whole lot of new info here for me. All in all, this is useful to read if you're dealing with depression for the first time, whether your own or somebody else's, but you should definitely look at the resources at the back or various other books to get a more in-depth understanding of depression.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a good job assembling and explaining the fundamental points of coping with depression, from a gloss on types of treatment to tips on asking for support from others. It's a slim book written in a very matter-of-fact voice, organized in a way that makes it easy to find what you need and skip what you don't -- with good "further reading" suggestions if what you need is more in-depth coverage of a topic. The "managing symptoms" section is particularly good: each symptom (fatigue, social isolation, etc.) gets addressed individually and practically. A good little resource.

[Trey Nowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good account for people working in the mental health field or suffering personally from depression.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read very informative