From Depression to Contentment: A Self-Therapy Guide

Doctor Bob Rich’s advice comes from both personal issues and professional experience. His advice does not include prescriptions for drugs. Throughout the book he gives examples from his own life and from his patients’ experiences using alias identities. His approach is one any thoughtful person can learn and apply to their own situation. The book gives information on types of depression, where it comes from, and steps to analyze and overcome individual causes of depression and its reoccurrence. It also gives great communication examples, so ultimately helps people maintain relationships, while providing information on how to help others. Each chapter includes homework sessions, useful URLs to investigate, and books that not only back up his suggestions but information readers will also want to explore.The book covers more than just depression. It talks about dealing with life’s obstacles that lead to depression. Chapter two lists seven requirements for a contented life: healthy eating, satisfying sleep, regular physical exercise, regular fun, creativity, social connectedness, and meaning. With determination, things everyone can achieve. Some of these I need to work on. I found the chapter on relaxation and meditation recommendations very helpful with easy to use techniques.In the About the Author page it states Doctor Bob’s major joy in life is to be of benefit to others, and I must admit this book’s contents were of benefit to me and will help other readers. While it is a relatively short book, those who read it will want to re-read it several times and probably keep it at hand for dealing with difficult times and situations. So when I found the pdf version he gave me to review helpful, I decided to buy the Kindle version.Doctor Bob also talks about many problems plaguing the world and humanity that can cause depression, which is on the rise. I whole-heartedly agree with these views.

From Depression to Contentment is a masterful fusion of therapeutic expertise and vulnerable memoir, with threads of history, science, and literature woven throughout. Dr. Bob Rich gives practical and powerful strategies to challenge and overcome depression, ranging from book recommendations to visualization to self-care and creativity. Readers struggling with depression will find empathy, guidance, and a compassionate view of depression (a refreshing departure from the biomedical model of depression so prevalent in contemporary literature). The book explores the genesis of depression, the influence of trauma and the importance of resilience. Throughout, Dr. Bob gives practical recommendations to improve your life and outlook about the future, drawing from his personal and clinical experience. This ambitious and helpful book lives up to its title and is sure to bring readers from depression to contentment.

Dr. Bob Rich has answers for the “do-it-yourself” person to start implementing today. He says a label is only a summary for a set of behaviors. He says there are no depression or mental health genes. Why do people suffer? He says it is the interaction of many hereditary and environmental influences. Why does depression happen? Dr. Rich says it is not easy to figure out, as we all have genetic strengths and weaknesses.He lists common mental health problems, shares examples of situations, and uses short stories make the book easy to follow and understand. He has practical answers, although sometimes short term counseling is needed. Down to earth advice!

I have been reading this book on depression, and this book is so helpful, the author puts it a way that anyone can understand it. The fact that the author himself has dealt with depression, gives good insight understanding his book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is dealing with depression.

I've read many self help books and author Dr. Bob Rich's book, while treading some familiar ground or flying familiar skies (sensible recommendations on meditation, diet, social connections, exercise, creativity, not getting caught up in owning "stuff"), does offer the unique observation that "You need to be crazy to stay sane in a crazy world," and also focuses on treating the whole person (including the effects on the family), not the depression as a disease or dis-ease.I am a reader and writer, not a mental health professional, so I approach it from a reader's perspective.Professionals and patients might debate the fact that chemical imbalances and genetics don't play a role in depression the way Dr. Rich asserts, and that society is responsible for depression. There is room to have a reasoned debate about that--not a polarized, angry one on social media, which does negatively impact people. However, Dr. Rich's entire goal is to let people know they don't have to feel doomed to be depressed forever because of genetics or a chemical imbalance. He wants to give the reader the tools to change their lives. He says, "More than ever, we need to look at alternatives to drugs that will equip us to deal effectively with the triggers that allowdepression to take hold again and again. This is where drug treatments fail." He also admits that "the causation of any psychological reaction is always complex."He comes across as sincere, and he knows depression because he overcame it and he has been a practicing psychotherapist. Upfront he provides sensible advice for people who are in a crisis upfront. He says, "Something works for everyone, but nothing works for everyone. If you find that the program in this book doesn’t work for you, the best investment you can make is 8 to 20 sessions of therapy with a good psychologist."Also, he provides exercises for people to do--homework. You might think that would be counterintuitive for people who struggle with depression, but as Dr. Rich writes, "Whatever your depression tells you, do the opposite." So for example, if your depression tells you to oversleep or live as an insomniac, just get regular sleep. This is a generalization because he does advocate having regular fun, creating meaning, eating sensibly, and so on. He says these solutions are mostly free, and the ones that cost money (like eating healthy food) have other benefits. Meditation is also free (he does an entire chapter on meditation and likes the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, as well as Viktor Frankl.)He also says that the label or diagnosis of depression is not an explanation. He describes it as "putting suffering in boxes" and as a useful tool for pharmaceutical companies. He adds, "That’s not to say that antidepressants don’t work. They do have a role to play, but at best, they ease the symptoms while you take the drug, so you can work on your problems." And he may be on to something that just because depression runs in families, that's not evidence for the heredity-only explanation. As he says, depression is complex.One of his biggest points is emphasizing compassion and connectedness, and says that "deliberately making the choice of treating all other humans as our brothers and sisters is one of the major defenses against depression." (Not always possible when people wrong us, but a goal to aspire to.) He also points out that romantic love has a flaw because it insists on someone making you happy and loving you, rather than seeking someone to love. "Love that lasts a long time, and is likely to make you feel contented, is different. In contrast to such taking love, it is giving love: 'I want someone to love.' If two people have this attitude to each other, and both are in the relationship in order to make the other happy, then youhave something wonderful."If you or a loved one need this book, there's so much in this book that you'll want to slow down and digest it piece by piece--and do the homework.

Evidently, Dr. Bob Rich has walked the walk. He has been there, done it, helped others to do it and here in this very readable, succinct and yet hard-hitting work lets you know how you can do it as well. Here you can learn how to get your soul and mind back in order. Above all, it is supremely practical. Dr. Bob Rich has spared us the swathes of academic literature that can clog up similar works. Yet he is clearly familiar with the literature itself (and helpfully includes links in the book) and brings it to bear on the issues around depression with impressive clarity. Helpful as well, are the numerous heart-rendering examples that Dr. Bob Rich provides from those that have sought help from him.In ‘From Depression to Contentment’, Dr. Bob Rich gives us, in clear simple steps, a way out, a guiding light. He knows this works, you just have to do it. Depression is not a label, pills are not a healthy way out, but there are steps that we can take that will start us on the ladder out of the pit. There is a fair amount of literature that will tackle any one of his suggestions in more detail, such as Matthew Walker’s excellent text, Why We Sleep, which is, surprisingly, about healthy sleeping. However, here in one simple pragmatic volume, are all those steps and how you should do them. Just as importantly, it is not only what you should do, but what you should not do.What I loved about this book was it’s focus on meaning, there are some excellent passages on how important this is to mental health – I won’t spoil it for you, but this is a hugely important issue that can be neglected within this field, and Dr. Bob Rich explains it intelligently.Dr. Bob Rich puts you back in control, does not accept the usual mantras and sops for the soul, and he wisely puts the issue of depression into its wider context. This is a timely and important text that makes a shrewd and significant contribution to this field.