The Secret Strength of Depression,

This classic book: is opulent, is bright, and takes the fear of psychotherapy and antidepressants. It is not a classical self help book. It addresses depressive people and their relatives. `The Secret Strength of Depression' supplies the reader with a lot of background material on the topic depression. Flach uses the word depression not only for the clinical cases, but also for people in grief and for people in a longish phase of depressive mood. In this book you will learn about psychotherapeutical treatment und treatment with different kinds of drugs. The biological background of them is explained. Flach claims there is no addiction with antidepressants. In spite of the heavy topic one gets a relatively light read. Though a very lengthy read.

The "gift" is that depression offers sensitivity and opportunity for insight and change, and that by learning to deal with life's bumps, you can experience feelings of competancy, power, and control over your life. The only drawback I find in Flach's thinking is that he downplays the physical aspects of depression/manic depression, a premise that might lead the reader to the conclusion that "it's all in your head," which could be pretty depressing!