The Depression Cure (book review)

I have been reading this book,The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs, for weeks now, and am finally getting around to sharing about it. I have wanted to share about the book, because I feel it is very helpful, but I haven’t quite known where or how to start.

As you know, if you’ve read my blog for any length of time, I struggle with depression. This has been an off and on battle for about the past 4 years or so. I have tried to share here on my blog about how I’m doing, because I know there are many readers who often struggle. It is often a very hard thing to talk about, but I also know that we can encourage each other in this way – so it does help to talk about it. 🙂

My first major “bout” with depression, after I finally admitted I was struggling and got help, I began taking Lexapro. The medication was a miracle worker for me, it truly pulled me out of a pit of darkness that I thought I was going to be in forever.

However, this 2nd major time with depression, Lexapro has not been quite so successful. I have been on it for more than 6-8 months now, changing my dosage as needed – with the help of a psychiatrist – and I still have so many ups and downs. It is very frustrating, to say the least. I am gaining weight again, and still have cycles of down times. However, I know it is helping a little bit at least because I’m not constantly in that low state.

So, when this book came highly recommended, I decided to order it. I started reading it immediately, but you know how life is…I didn’t finish it right away. And I’ve been out of the country. 🙂 I’m getting close to the end now and wanted to go ahead and at least mention it here on the blog.

The book is very good. The premise of the book is to share with the readers 6 things you can be doing – outside of trying medication – to cure your depression. I truly believe that there are those who can be helped and have been helped by trying these 6 things. Several of these suggestions are not new, and much of it I have read before – but not in this same combination and not as a cure for depression.

One reason I have hesitated to share about the book is because I don’t feel that I’m cured. How can I recommend a book that hasn’t “worked?” However, I also can’t say that I have worked on the 6 items in this book consistently over a good period of time. So, I obviously can’t say without a doubt that this book has worked for me. All I can say is that it has helped. And, if I would work on these 6 things more consistently, it might work better for me. ha! 🙂

I think that is one thing that should be prefaced with this book – if you are in the depths of a very serious depression, I think getting yourself to do these 6 things feels pretty close to impossible. One of my biggest symptoms of depression is motivation. I literally wake up in the morning and feel like I cannot get up and cannot do any of the things I need to be doing. I don’t know, it’s almost like a mental block, it’s like I’m no longer even capable of doing my everyday tasks. It’s hard to describe. And, it’s not like this everyday – thus the “up and down” frustrating nature of this depression thing.

But, I think where this book could be most helpful is for those who know they are more prone to depression, or maybe they are struggling but it’s not at its worst point – if you still have a bit of motivation in your body, I think many of these things are excellent to try.

That is another point made in the book: the 6 things listed to cure depression are just healthy, common sense things for the most part. EVERY person could benefit from these items – not just the depressed person, but especially those struggling with depression.

I don’t feel like I am “sharing the secret” here by sharing the 6 steps that this book describes, because you can find them in the sample pages on amazon. However, I will say that the book does a much better job of explaining the why, the science and the statistics behind these steps.

The book calls these “Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes.”
(or 6 steps to curing depression, in my own words)

• Fish oil (the book goes into detail about the quality and how much to take)
• Meaningful activity
• Exercise
• Sunlight
• Connecting with others socially
• Healthy sleep

Like I mentioned earlier, these 6 things are truly healthy for everyone; but especially the person who struggles with depression. We can all benefit from these things! I think one thing that encouraged me in this book is that there is something I can do to help my depression. If you’ve read my blog for long, you know I have tried many things. However, this combination of 6 things – consistently and all together – would obviously be the optimum help I could give myself.

I hope by sharing about this book that someone out there finds it helpful. I do believe that these steps could be very helpful for many people. At the same time, medication has been a lifesaver for me in years past, so I can’t discount that either. And — while I’m on the subject, the book does NOT discount medication either! However, it was very interesting to me to read statistics in this country for those who have tried anti-depressants and have had no improvement in their depression symptoms. It is a scary thing to think about how high those numbers have grown!!

So, if you are struggling with depression and are looking for an alternative to medication, I would highly recommend this book. Even if you struggle and do use medication, I think this book would be beneficial for you as well. 🙂 Just my .02 worth…