The Mood Repair Toolkit: Proven Strategies to Prevent the Blues from Turning into Depression

As a therapist who specializes in treating depressed adolescents, I find that parents often challenge me. They cannot understand why their teen is helplessly depressed, or why their child isn’t motivated to engage in activities that their peers find enjoyable. “She has nothing to be depressed about — she has a great family and good grades, and is smart and pretty!” a parent will say, or, “He has nothing to sulk about — he has everything a kid would want.” Similarly, the common stigma around adults with depression is that if you have a job, good pay, a spouse, beautiful children, and a white-picket-fence lifestyle, there should be nothing holding you down. But the reality is that depression is like an uncontrollable beast seeking whomever it can apprehend — regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, or culture. In The Mood Repair Toolkit, David Clark successfully normalizes depression and shows how it does not discriminate based on age or circumstance. In one case study, Clark describes a woman named Joan who has been quite resilient throughout her sixty-six years of life. However, she has struggled with keeping depression from completely taking over. She takes antidepressants but still has occasional feelings of emptiness — plus a fear that her depression will cripple her again. Then, Clark describes Todd, a much younger college student who also struggles with depression, despite that he does well in school, has some financial secur...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Book Reviews Depression General Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Clinical Depression David A. Clark David Clark mood repair The Mood Repair Toolkit Source Type: news