Taming the Black Dog: How to Beat Depression - A Practical Manual for Sufferers, Their Relatives and Colleagues [Paperback]

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

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.

'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.

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.