Depression and the Body: The Biological Basis of Faith and Reality

Alexander Lowen writes an intelligent piece of literature. He explains in detail how depression is alienation from one's body. A real eye-opener.

I am a licensed counselor and have been reading professional literature since the late '70's, had run into Lowen here & there, but never paid him much attention, assuming he would be dry and theoretical. I just picked up Depression and the Body and found it quite helpful. The bioenergetic theory and treatment remain to be proven. Lowen's explanations make sense on the surface, anyway. But his understanding of depression, while not groundbreaking, is clear, complete, compassionate and adaptable to the counseling situation. While he focuses on early childhood and its traumas (not usually fertile ground for therapy in the real world) he also provides some useful here-and-now insights about the thinking of a depressed person and how it needs to change in order for recovery to occur. I didn't give the book five stars because some of the book digresses into material about social and cultural issues that have little to do with the problem of depression. But overall I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to read about depression from a HUMAN angle.