Depression Is Contagious: How The Most Common Mood Disorder Is Spreading Around The World And How To Stop It

Description

Depression is the world's most common mood disorder, and it is spreading like a viral contagion. You can't catch depression in the same way you catch a cold, but the latest research provides overwhelming support that moods spread through social conditions, defining depression as more a social problem than a medical illness. Our social lives directly shape our brain chemistry and powerfully affect the way we think and feel--and our brains can change for the better with healthy social circumstances as much as they can change with medication. Drugs may address some of depression's symptoms, but Dr. Yapko convincingly argues that we need to treat depression at its root, by building social skills and improving relationships, in order to halt the spread of this debilitating disorder. Filled with practical exercises and illustrative examples, his groundbreaking plan guides readers to identify key social patterns that reinforce depression so they can learn the skills to overcome depression and even prevent new episodes from occurring.

Provocative and controversial as well as prescriptive and hopeful, Depression Is Contagious investigates the social phenomenon of depression's epidemic-like spread while offering a more realistic road to recovery.

Reviews

"Move over Prozac, bring on the real depression antidote -- RELATIONSHIPS. Best book I've ever read for depression-proofing one's life! If you or someone you know is in the depths of despair, buy this book and several more for friends! Everyone needs to learn Dr. Michael Yapko's concrete, psychobabble-free approach for choosing, cultivating, and maintaining relationships that provide lifelines for hard times and sustenance for living. At last, the real antidepressant/wellness prescription -- 'Take 50 milligrams of love and call me in the morning.' I love this book!" -- Michele Weiner-Davis, M.S.W., author of "Divorce Busting" and "Change Your Life and Everyone in It"