Coping With Depression: From Catch-22 to Hope

Distilling years of experience in educating psychiatric patients and their
families about depression, Jon Allen has written a practical book that addresses
the challenges depressed patients face on the road to recovery. Allen advocates
approaching depression by focusing on the importance of hope, and he helps
patients understand depression through two simple ideas: catch-22 and stress
pileup.

This book conveys how the symptoms of depression impede all the
things depressed persons must do to recover, thus defusing self-criticism while
encouraging patients to take satisfaction in small steps toward improvement. And
the concept of stress pileup encompasses a developmental perspective respecting
the full range of accumulated biological, psychological, and interpersonal
stresses that play into depression. This broad understanding helps patients
become more compassionate toward themselves and puts them in a stronger position
to make use of professional care.

Coping With Depression is written for a
general audience, including depressed persons and their family members, as well
as professionals seeking a readable integration of current knowledge that they
can use to educate their patients. Although written in nontechnical language,
the book provides a sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of the
psychological development of depression, the neurobiology of the illness, and
the full range of evidence-based treatment modalities. All material is
buttressed by extensive references to theoretical, clinical, and research
literature.

Coping With Depression emphasizes the concept of agency,
encouraging readers to take an active role in their recovery. Countering today's
trend toward exclusive reliance on antidepressant medication, the book employs
the perspective of developmental psychopathology to integrate psychosocial and
neurobiological knowledge. The book explains how biological vulnerability is
intertwined with stress stemming from insecure attachment, childhood adversity,
stressful life events, emotional conflicts, and problems in close relationships.
Going far beyond the "chemical imbalance," the author illustrates how the
experience of depression is linked to changes in patterns of brain activity as
evidenced by neuroimaging studies. Coping With Depression will help readers
understand the development of depression from a biopsychosocial perspective
appreciate how depression is compounded by related conditions, including bipolar
disorder, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, general
medical conditions, and suicidal states understand how recovering from
depression entails working on many fronts, including improving physical health,
participating in pleasurable activities, countering negative thinking, resolving
internal conflicts, and-above all-establishing more stable and secure attachment
relationships become knowledgeable about the treatment options that facilitate
coping, including cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic
psychotherapy as well as medication and combined treatment appreciate the
centrality of hope in recovery from depression and the challenges to hope that
depression poses

To maintain hope, patients, their family members, and
clinicians must face the seriousness of the illness of depression and the
daunting obstacles to recovery, including catch-22 in all of its manifestations.
Throughout the book, Allen reiterates the theme of agency: depressed persons can
use their intelligence to understand their illness and do something to recover
and remain well, making use of help from others along the way.