This text gives us a way of understanding our depression which matches our experience and which enables us to take charge of our life and change it. Dorothy Rowe shows us that depression is not an illness or a mental disorder but a defence against pain and fear, which we can use whenever we suffer a disaster and discover that our life is not what we thought it was. Depression is an unwanted consequence of how we see ourselves and the world. By understanding how we have interpreted events in our life, we can choose to change our interpretations and thus create for ourselves a happier, more fulfilling life. This book is for depressed people, their family and friends, and for all professionals and non-professionals who work with depressed people.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. The Prison. Inside the Prison. How to Build Your Prison. Why Not Leave the Prison? Why I Won't Leave the Prison. Outside the Wall: Living with a Depressed Person. Suppose I Did Want to Leave the Prison, What Should I Do? Suppose I Decide Not to Change? The Prison Vanishes.

Reviews

'You can't go to a party without meeting at least two people whose lives have been changed by Dorothy Rowe.' - Linda Grant, The Guardian 'Dorothy Rowe's is the calm voice of reason in an increasingly mad world.' - Sue Townsend