Product Description

This self help manual is for those for whom depression arises from the impact of exceptional circumstances such as childbirth and menopause, commercial and professional failure, accident, grief, divorce or debt as well as for those more permanent owners of the Black Dog.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17471 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 154 pages

Review
"'By 2020, the World Health Organisation expects depression to be the number one health problem.' New Statesman"

From the Inside Flap
'I have reviewed many books of relative merits but never have I reviewed one which I recommend everyone to read, that is until I read TAMING THE BLACK DOG...It talks about depression in everyday language...It never talks down to you...It deals with psychological and physical elements. It is a practical and comprehensive handbook for surviving depression...It is a really helpful book.'
Professor Stuart Kotze holds professorships in Behavioural Psychology at Oxford, Aston and Warwick Universities.

‘This brave and honest book is a dispatch from the front line of depression. Patrick Ellverton deals with the relationship of depression and alcohol consumption head on. Two chapters which I specially recommend are firstly ‘Your emotions’ in which he tackles a notoriously difficult subject with startling lucidity. The second is ‘Helping a Friend’ which also deals with the relationship between the doctor and patient.’
Robert Beaumont of the Charlie Walker Memorial Trust which funds research by GPs into the treatment of depression.

About the Author
Although drugs can help stabilize, ultimately the process of healing the wounds inflicted by the 'Black Dog' (as Winston Churchill termed his own depression) needs to be applied by the sufferers themselves. Patrick Ellverton feels that he has fought a winning battle with the Black Dog and in this book shares his formula for doing so. "The actions I am recommending will enhance everyone's enjoyment of life, beyond recognition, irrespective of whether they are temporary sufferers or ones like myself who have inherited the beast." For those for whom depression arises from the impact of exceptional circumstances such as childbirth and menopause, commercial and professional failure, accident, grief, divorce or debt - and for those more permanent owners of the Black Dog - the mental damage will need regular repair work. This book is a self-help manual for both.

Customer Reviews

Help when you need it
This book is not heavy. It is written by a fellow sufferer rather than an academic, and it comes across in a very sympathetic manner that I found easy to relate to.

The book takes you through mental exercises, motivation, exercise, meditation and mentoring. It didn't have all the answers for me, but reading it gave me a big lift when I needed one.

What stops it getting 5 stars? A whole chapter on alcoholism, from which the author suffers. The rest of the book is applicable to any depressive, but I suspect the differences between drink, drugs, gambling, comfort eating etc are sufficient to warrant a change to this chapter.

Beat the blues - put your black dog in the dog house
If you are suffering from depression, have suffered from depression or know someone suffering from depression, then I recommend this book for you.

Winston Churchill called his depression "the black dog", and this book can really help if you feel that you are overwhelmed by the black dog - or a whole pack of them! Remember that depression is not a personal weakness or failing, rather a debilitating condition that can strike when our systems are overstressed, overtired and overworked - anyone can be a sufferer at any time in their life.

After I received this book I read it in one night as it was so easy to read and full of uplifting ideas. Immediately it offered hope and practical steps to help me move forward at a difficult time in my life. Patrick Ellverton is a fellow sufferer and his book offers practical, light-hearted advice in an very readable and non-technical style. He doesn't offer any advice about medication, however, although there are many other texts about this if you want more info.

If you are suffering from depression I would recommend this book in conjunction with "Overcoming Depression" by Paul Gilbert, which contains a self-help CBT approach* (please see below for more detail) and goes into more practical detail and exercises. Both these books were recommended to me by a therapist from the Priory and I hope these will help you too. Together these books can help you gain insight into problem areas such as perfectionism, shame, anger, and aggression, and how these areas can become exacerbated by depression.

My only extra comment would be that if you are currently suffering from depression, please do not just buy this book, but do consult a professional as well. Particularly if you are feeling suicidal, or know someone who feels this way, talking or reading alone will perhaps not be fast enough to save you or them. Sometimes the combination of therapy and medication is needed to help sufferers tame their black dog quickly and get back on the track to happiness and health.

I am buying this book as a gift for others close to me who have or are suffering from depression as I think it could well be a life saver for them as well. My partner also read this book and I believe it gave him insight and understanding into something he really didn't comprehend beforehand.

I wish you all the best if you are trying to overcome depression - please hang in there, for yourself and all the people who care about you!

* Cognitive behavioral therapy (as opposed to "talk therapy") is internationally established as a key method for overcoming conditions such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and eating disorders and used to treat emotional disorders by changing negative thought-patterns.

That our thoughts can have a major impact on our emotions is the underlying principle behind this form of therapy. For example, a person who goes through life thinking "I am unlovable," or "I'll never achieve anything," will find constant evidence to support his or her beliefs.

CBT offers a systematic program of treatment by which people can monitor their thoughts, learn to recognize negative patterns, and challenge them, using step-by-step suggestions, case examples, thought-monitoring sheets, and practical ideas for gaining control over depression and other debilitating conditions. CBT offers a course of action for sufferers to change the way they think about themselves and their problems.

Very disappointed
It is with much regret that the title of this review is as so, but i bought this book for a number of reasons, firstly as sufferer, i have Bi-polar II and Borderliner personality disorder, second was i was looking for a self help manual to help me get my life back on track, and this book seemed the perfect answer, but all in all i have found that the information contained within is very much like all the other self help books that are on the market and although some of his tips in theory seem very good they are not practical in todays world, i have been off work now for 3 years, and would very much like to get back into employment, that is the third reason for my purchase, some of the ideas/tips are very difficult to put into place in todays work place whether you are a business executive or a manual worker and i found some of the religious comments very off putting, but then that is my personal opionion and maybe the black dog has got more of a control over me than i realise, but those of you who are thinking about buying this book, it could be a ideal but for me unfortunately it was not. But i congratulate Patrick Ellverton for putting this book together as it will be an asset to many sufferers but not all.