Understanding Depression: A Complete Guide to Its Diagnosis and Treatment

When Understanding Depression was first published over ten years ago, it quickly became a trusted guide for the millions of Americans suffering from depression. Now the long-awaited revised and expanded second edition of this definitive and readable book is available to a new generation of those struggling with depression and their families. Informed by up-to-date research on new drugs and treatments for biological depression, the authors again carefully illustrate the importance of accurately diagnosing the disease and using scientific data and tested research methods in treating it. The book provides the means of evaluating the benefits and disadvantages of both pharmaceutical and psychological treatment of depression and explores the different treatments available. The completely revised medication chapter covers both the old and the new antidepressants and SSRIs, as well as popular herbal supplements like St. John's Wort. It also focuses on the environmental and hereditary causes of biological depression, about which there are still many misconceptions, even among professionals. The authors include several self-rating tests which readers can use to determine the need to seek a psychological evaluation. Using excerpts from patient histories to show their progress from the onset of depression to treatment to recovery, the authors put a human face on the specter of depression. Most of its victims fail to seek help, whether out of guilt or ignorance, and many are misdiagnosed by physicians or psychotherapists who fail to recognize the symptoms of the illness. Understanding Depression is an excellent source of support, providing a highly informed and readable guide to this much misunderstood disease.