Product Description

When someone suffers from depression, friends and family members naturally want to help-but too often their good intentions come out all wrong. This practical, compassionate guide helps readers understand exactly what their loved one is going through, and why certain approaches help and others have the potential to do damage. Talking to Depression offers specific advice on what to do and what not to do-and what to say and what not to say-to avoid frustration and give the kind of caring, effective support that will make a difference.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33007 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-06
• Released on: 2004-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The author of Talking to Alzheimer's shares a simple, direct and effective approach for family and friends of those living and dealing with clinical depression. Strauss delves into specific scenarios with depressed loved ones, clearly explaining why certain responses and phrasing of comments are helpful while others are ineffective or seem like mere "stock phrases" to the person who is depressed. Strauss also explains that simply being there for the depressed person helps more than giving specific advice. "It isn't her job to listen to you; it's your job to listen to her. That's the best way to help her." Clinical psychologist Martha Manning, whose book Undercurrents offered a personal dimension to the illness, hits the exact note when she writes in the foreword that "dealing with depression is a collaboration." Strauss uses this approach throughout the book, explaining the unique ways in which the depressed mind works and, consequently, how others can better connect with that way of thinking through appropriate conversation, body language and practical support. When viewed individually, these suggestions may seem like ways to tiptoe around the depressed person, but altogether they are considerate and sensitive methods of communicating in any type of relationship. Strauss's insight applies to the day-to-day battles alongside the depression sufferer, but she also stresses how much can be learned from these strong individuals: "In physical battles, we celebrate the bravery of the soldier who falls. The bravery of the psychological warrior is no less."
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Review
...a really important tool for knowing...how to connect when people in your life are struggling with depression. -- Jo Cohen Hamilton, Ph.D

...a war chest of tools to aid our understanding of something that defies understanding unless one has experienced it firsthand... -- Christine B. Smith, Ph.D., President of Survivors of Loved One's Suicides, Inc. - SOLOS

This magical book...makes numerous practical, valuable, and doable suggestions. -- Catherine M. Schultz, School Counselor, Reading High School

About the Author
Claudia J. Strauss is an award-winning communication consultant and educator. An adjunct professor of English at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, she runs a business in strategic communications, and coaches adults with ADD and learning disabilities.

Customer Reviews

Summaries of what is already said.
This book seems to summarise what is already known, and fits Bipolar into the medical model rather than the wholistic health model. You can get most of this information from the information sheets published by the drug companies and the DSM IV. I myself am a mental health RN, my partner a naturopath, so I am not ignorant on either viewpoint. This is not a book I suggest family members read as their first choice when it comes to depression. Taking tablets is not the only choice, nor does it mean things are improved as research has clearly shown. Cognitive therapies which this book promotes as something that benefits in conjunction with medication, can be better as a stand alone especially with regard to anti anxiolitics which impair therapy, Something this book does not grasp. The author is a specialist in learning disorders and altzymers, which is radically different from depression. As a professional myself, I can see clearly where this author has gone wrong. If you still buy this book, keep in mind it is only one point of view, and a narrow one at that.

an absolute must for anyone with depression or who has a loved one with depression
As a former mental health therapist and a person diabled by depression, I highly recommend this book. I wish I had had it 7 years ago when my mother moved in with me. She was saying all the "don'ts" and not doing any of the "dos". I got this book recently and read through it, marvelling at how my mother has, over the years, learned how to help me with my depression.

Another plus for this book is that it is written on a human level, not using a lot of dry facts or professional terminology, but just saying what needs to be said. It even includes a section on how children and teenagers can learn what to say and do as well as a section on what to say and do if a parent notices symptoms of depression in their child or adolescent.

I was curious...
I read this because I was mesmerized by the concept that this kind of support exists...these kinds of people thinking these kinds of thoughts. It's utterly alien to me. My family talking to me about depression, is equivalent to a conversation between Ann Coulter and Barney Frank, if it's allowed for discussion at all.

Freinds? They're all the "bite your lip" tuffies. They say, "Oh, I have depression, too." I guess they are tougher than me, if they work full-time, and go to school, and raise small children, and maintain a full social calendar. That to me is a peculiar brand of depressed person. It reminds me of hearing about NFL players, playing while suffering from the flu. Sorry...doesn't happen; not with the actual flu. Under the fullest weight, something has to give.

These days "feeling blue" is popularly believed to be the same as Major Depression, and anything more virulent than the sniffles, is described as "the flu".

I've had those discussions. I've been through the HMO mill, after having been diagnosed with Major Depression several years ago. And I had to read this book as a sort of counterbalance. Call it an indulgence in fantasy.

I have the highest regard for those of you who are considering reading this book in an effort to understand someone close to you. It's a fine book. More power to you.