THE
depression
AnswerBook
TM
Professional Answers to More
Than 275 Critical Questions
About Medication, Therapy,
Support & More
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 1 2/25/09 4:20:10 PM
, Contents
Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1: Depression Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2: Symptoms of Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Short Depression Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 3: Diagnosis and Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Criteria That Doctors Use to Diagnose Major Unipolar Depression . . 21
Chapter 4: Similar and Coexisting Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 5: Newer Antidepressant Medications . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 6: Classic Antidepressants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 7: What If Your Antidepressant Doesn’t Work? . . . . 89
Chapter 8: Finding a Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 9: Seeking Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 10: Choosing Between Psychotherapists . . . . . . . . . . 131
Chapter 11: Treating Depression at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Chapter 12: Good Health Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Chapter 13: Stress-Reduction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Chapter 14: Women and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 15: Crisis Management and Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Suicide Severity Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 16: When All Else Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Appendix A: Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Appendix B: American Psychiatric Association’s Official
Diagnostic Criteria for Unipolar Major Depression . . . . . . . 239
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 5 2/25/09 4:20:12 PM
, Appendix C: The National Institute of Mental Health’s
Symptoms of General Depression and Psychosis . . . . . . . . 243
Appendix D: Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Pleasant Events Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Life Activation Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Emotion Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 6 2/25/09 4:20:12 PM
, C hap t e r 1 Depression
Basics
nW
hat’s a simple definition of major depression?
n I s major depression a medical disease or just a bad attitude?
n I s depression a fad diagnosis?
nH ow many people are affected by clinical depression?
nD oes depression cause physical problems?
nH ow does being seriously depressed affect my overall health?
nH ow serious is my depression?
nW ho is most likely to have an episode of major depression?
nD oes major depression get worse over time?
nW ill I have to keep taking medications or going to psychotherapy for the
rest of my life?
nH ow does depression affect people’s longevity?
n I s there any good news about this diagnosis?
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 1 2/25/09 4:20:13 PM
depression
AnswerBook
TM
Professional Answers to More
Than 275 Critical Questions
About Medication, Therapy,
Support & More
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 1 2/25/09 4:20:10 PM
, Contents
Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1: Depression Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2: Symptoms of Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Short Depression Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 3: Diagnosis and Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Criteria That Doctors Use to Diagnose Major Unipolar Depression . . 21
Chapter 4: Similar and Coexisting Disorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 5: Newer Antidepressant Medications . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 6: Classic Antidepressants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 7: What If Your Antidepressant Doesn’t Work? . . . . 89
Chapter 8: Finding a Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 9: Seeking Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 10: Choosing Between Psychotherapists . . . . . . . . . . 131
Chapter 11: Treating Depression at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Chapter 12: Good Health Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Chapter 13: Stress-Reduction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Chapter 14: Women and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 15: Crisis Management and Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Suicide Severity Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 16: When All Else Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Appendix A: Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Appendix B: American Psychiatric Association’s Official
Diagnostic Criteria for Unipolar Major Depression . . . . . . . 239
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 5 2/25/09 4:20:12 PM
, Appendix C: The National Institute of Mental Health’s
Symptoms of General Depression and Psychosis . . . . . . . . 243
Appendix D: Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Pleasant Events Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Life Activation Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Emotion Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 6 2/25/09 4:20:12 PM
, C hap t e r 1 Depression
Basics
nW
hat’s a simple definition of major depression?
n I s major depression a medical disease or just a bad attitude?
n I s depression a fad diagnosis?
nH ow many people are affected by clinical depression?
nD oes depression cause physical problems?
nH ow does being seriously depressed affect my overall health?
nH ow serious is my depression?
nW ho is most likely to have an episode of major depression?
nD oes major depression get worse over time?
nW ill I have to keep taking medications or going to psychotherapy for the
rest of my life?
nH ow does depression affect people’s longevity?
n I s there any good news about this diagnosis?
Depression_Answer_Book_FINAL_INT.indd 1 2/25/09 4:20:13 PM
