Depression - Do self-help books help? Posted: 04-06-08 17:21pm
I suffer from mild depression and I'm
beginning to suspect I'm addicted to
self-help books. I cant get enough of
them, books, dvd's, bookmarked web sites.
. .
The thing is, whilst they often contain
much wisdom, none of them seem to hold any
long term solutions. One problem is the
step-by-step approach of some of these
programmes. I find myself starting step
one, full of enthusiasm only to loose
interest by the time I get to step 3.
Another problem is they assume everyone is
going to respond to the advice in the same
logical way. Unfortunately, when one is
depressed logic goes out of the window and
attention span is reduced to that of a
nat's.
I have even tried hypnotherapy, The
Landmark Forum (the best one by a long
way) and my GP who wanted to give me
pills.
Sometimes I just feel like I'm falling
into a black hole - I'm 50 and no wiser.
Not sure why I'm writing this or what I
want from this post, but I bet I'm not the
only one that's frustrated by self-help!
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PenguinsRus
Moderator
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 1179 Location: New York, NY United States
Thanks: 28
Thanked:8
Posted: 04-07-08 11:55am
Self books can be the most helpful
resource in the world for one person and
do completely nothing for the next. Also,
it can vary from day to day. Someone
could love a book one day and think its a
waste of paper the next. It is really all
about what helps you.
Have you tried any other methods of
helping yourself? Have you talked to
others about how you feel? Have you tried
things to calm your mind and body, such as
yoga, walks in parks, meditation, etc? If
the books aren't working for you, I'd
recommend trying other methods until you
find something that seems to be helping a
bit. Good luck! I hope you start to
feel better soon.
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Snapper57
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: 04-07-08 13:45pm
Thanks Penguin, You are right, sometimes I
find them useful, just a bit frustrated at
the moment. I have started walking 5 miles
a day, and it definitely helps, plus I've
lost over a stone in two months which
makes me feel much better about my
appearance. I have thought about
meditation and yoga, wouldn't mind giving
it a go.
Thanks again, I do appreciate you taking
time to answer my message.
Cheers
Andy
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PenguinsRus
Moderator
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 1179 Location: New York, NY United States
Thanks: 28
Thanked:8
Posted: 04-07-08 13:53pm
Congrats about losing the weight! That is
great for just two months!! Yoga helps me
a lot because it really really relaxes my
body and mind at the same time and just
calms me. Typically I recommend waiting
to try medication just because it can make
you seem like a zombie sometimes, but if
nothing else seems to help out then you
should give it a shot.
I know what you mean about the self-help
books. At one point they were all I could
buy and yet I never finished 3/4 of them.
For me it was the idea of what they might
be able to do - 'this one might be able to
fix me' rather than the content itself.
In hindsight I think a lot of them cover
many of the same things and if you can get
some ideas or advice from them that you
find helpful, even if it is just one
point, then I would say you could
counsider it handy.
In the end I found Tony Robbins very
helpful, in particular his Personal Power
cd's however they are pretty pricey so you
may want to try borrowing one or two first
to see if they are for you. I have a few
friends that I have also recommended them
to and they have also found them useful.
In relation to meditation, The mediatation
Society of Australia run a free online,
self-paced course that you may find
useful. The address is http://www.meditation.org
.au/index.asp .
And congrats on the weight loss, have you
ever thought about entering a charity
walking event? It sounds like you would
do really well with all that walking you
have been doing!
Best wishes,
Heather
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Snapper57
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: 04-11-08 07:58am
Thanks Heather, i will explore the
meditation link and the charity walk
sounds like a great idea. Thanks again x
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