Depression is a Choice: Winning the Fight Without Drugs

by A.B. Curtiss

Book Overview

In our culture, it is taken as an unquestionable fact that depression is a disease, that it is quite common, and that it is the explanation for everything from lethargy to conditions and actions that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786866292
• ISBN13: 9780786866298
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

awesome book if yo ucan keep yourself from getting defensive

i have to say that i agree with another reviewer about this book, it was a complete turning point for me. i will comment on the meat of the book, the concept, as i agree some parts of the book were slow and not neccessary, but the point of this review is for the important parts. i read others reviews, and was not surprized at the shock people have felt from reading this book. even when i read it, i could tell a lot of people would miss the greatness of it because of its controversial concepts which will touch a nerve with many who feel helpless to their depression. i have suffered from moderate to severe depression since i was very young. my mother has it, so does my brother and i come from a many generations of people who suffered from depression. i stumbled apon this book in the library when i was doing a research report. i think not everyone who reads this book, as evident by some of the reviews, will be able to handle this. it flys in the face of what society drills into your head about depression and asks you to step up and take responsibility for your life. other commenters who have touched on the idea that the author is blaming people for their own depression are missing the mark. i dont think its about blame, and im pretty sure that the author is just trying to get you to see that your own action is the key to healing it for the future. i never felt once while reading this book that it was 'all my fault' in a negative sense. all it did was bring the big picture together and it made my actions and thoughts and patterns throughout my life make a little more sense. people who are not ready for this concept will just not be ready for it and will put up a wild defense that they really have nothing to do with being able to effect their depression. i can understand why, its devastingly hard at times to get out of a mood or feeling that takes over and just seems to never go away. the author gives the idea of power back to the reader though. we are taught that we have no choice over depression, it is an 'ilness' and that word in this society often means 'you have no personal power over this part of your life anymore, only external solutions work now'. but that is not true nor is it ever when it comes to real healing. you do have a choice, if you are only willing enough. many people who are convinced they have no choice in depression will be angry at this book because they are under the expectation that depression IS a chemical imbalance. they believe in the science about it being a real imbalance which means they have no power over it. but if you believe in that, why dont believe in the science of changing your brain? i know that my depression has been partly hereditary but also learned, and i can say its been a year since ive read this book and it remains one of my favorites because since then i have decided to take it into my own hands and really look closely at my thought patterns and do the hard, but very satisfying, work. my mom is on meds

Finally someone says it

For me, it was a great relief to be told to take responsibility for managing my moods and to be given some very specific suggestions about how to do it. The author states her case very strongly, but it didn't really bother me - and I found the repetition, the examples from her life, and the references to literature, etc. to be actually rather helpful in etching new thoughts into my brain. I have always felt - in my own case, at least, that drugs were not the anwer and that in some way I simply was not taking enough responsibility for my self. But I needed some help in figuring out how to proceed. Therapists - who push drugs or the repetition of painful stories from childhood - have not helped me. This book has and I recommend it. I am saddened by those people who are so scared of challenging idea that they have given it a negative review on the basis of the title alone - and have lacked the courage to read the book and see what it actually says.

Forever indebted & grateful to the author--3 1/2 years later

I wrote my first review of this book in November, 2001, but I wanted to follow up, and since I can only have one review on here, I am consolidating what I had to say. It has now been more than three years since I read _Depression is a Choice_, and I am cured of my depression. It is no longer a factor in my life. This book gave me the tools that I needed, and after awhile, I didn't even need to employ them actively anymore. It became a natural way of being. Once in awhile, I do wake up with a hint of depression, but it is rare, and I make it go away easily. I have also learned to coexist with feelings that can be painful depending on life circumstance but not give into them. I am NOT my depression. My depression is only a feeling, and it can no longer stop me. I learned this, because of this life-saving, amazing book. Best wishes in your journey to feeling better. It is definitely possible. daliahr@yahoo.com. My original review follows: I have a chemical imbalance. I put myself into a psychiatric hospital when I was 20. I was there for three months, before they would release me. I have suffered deep depression for the last twelve years, since that time, and prior to that, for as long as I could remember, although not as severe. I am now 32. I can't hold onto a job, because every time I have to work I am miserable, and I fall apart. Most days, I can't do much at all. My family tries to tell me I need medicine, as have doctors in the past. I tried that a couple of times when I was younger, but I have always known that can't be the only answer. Therapy was never-ending. I started blaming my past, my parents, my childhood for my deep pain. I struggled to get myself together on my own. My parents made many mistakes. They still do. There was unwitting mental and emotional abuse that caused me to suffer and doubt myself. I felt like a victim, and I was never sure that I would ever get past it and be able to live a more "normal" life. Then I stumbled upon this book. Depression Is a Choice_ is a book with guidelines for people like me. I have only known one way of acting. Of feeling the chemical and emotional pain and giving into it. That it wasn't my fault, but I had to ride it out, and that depression would come whenever it wanted, and sometimes when things were going great, out of nowhere. This book taught me some practical steps I can take to intervene when the pain starts to set in. It takes some effort, but it is doable. Since beginning this book, I have found that sometimes, I would rather be depressed than to direct my thought. Sometimes my depression is comforting; familiar. Other than the torture, hopelessness, and helplessness that it brings when it arrives, it doesn't require me to do anything but to suffer. Now that I know it is even POSSIBLE, I will choose not to let depression take over me, while sometimes still feeling the pain of it. This is something that should be taught in therapy. Therapists should not feel threat

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE TODAY

I happened upon this book on depression at my local bookstore and since I have battled depression (bipolar & otherwise) for most of my 41 years, I bought it, tho' I'd pretty much taken a blood oath to never buy another book on depression again (otherwise my post-mortem library would consist of diet books and ones on depression, which would depress my heirs.) In this case, I'm glad I bought it, and am mighty uplifted by the possibility that I am not the hopeless victim of a disease beyond my control, doomed to taking antidepressants for the rest of my life. I've practiced a few of the suggestions for Directed Thought already & must say that at this early stage, they've worked wonderfully well, which is nothing short of a miracle. My personal history reads very similarly to the author's and even before I read this book, I had begun to travel down the same paths to self-responsibility, mostly because I'm a fundamentalist Christian, of a stripe that is very suspicious of psychiatry, anyway. In a nutshell, Ms. Curtiss calls on everyone, no matter what their past or chemical leanings, to take responsibility for their own actions & encourages them that with a few simple mental exercises, they can take control of their own thoughts. Though I was skeptical at first, I must say the exercises have worked for me, enough that I'm reducing my antidepressants (with my doctor's permission) and hoping against hope that I might discontinue them completely. I congratulate Ms. Curtiss for offering up her personal testimony (as we say in the South) and speaking her mind and swimming against the stream. Looking at the editorial reviews posted here, I have to comment that it's a strange world we live in, when writing a book to encourage people to take responsibility for their own actions comes under such fire. I personally didn't find her book rambling or poorly edited, but entertaining and occasionally hilarious, in the tell-all tradition of Annie Lamott. If you battle depression, I do encourage you to give this method a careful read. The selling price is about an eighth of the price of a professional psych visit & you might find something here to help you change your life.

This book enlightened me

For me the book was enlightening. If biofeedback can be taught, why not Curtiss' method of fighting depression? She states clear conclusions and the paths traveled to reach those conclusions. I am also impressed with the source notes; their variety and depth. The author's life experiences and human interactions are very cleverly interwoven with the obvious research and clearthought process that make the book so worthwhile.