Laura L. Smith - Depression for Dummies

Depression For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021932518

ISBN 978-1-119-76859-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-76860-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-76861-6 (ebk)

1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 4
3. Chapter 7
4. Chapter 8
5. Chapter 11
6. Chapter 12
7. Chapter 13
8. Chapter 14
9. Chapter 16
10. Chapter 19

1. Chapter 4
2. Chapter 14
3. Chapter 15

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 plumbers 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 worlds 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.

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 youre 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, youll 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.