New Book

I subscribe (thanks to Wendy) to a ministry-wives magazine called Just Between Us. Anyway, in the midst of my current illness, I opened up the magazine to find an article on battling with depression (thank you God!). Not much of the information was new to me, but I did order a couple of books recommended at the end of the article. I've read this one and learnt more than I have learnt from anything I've ever read or listened to. Among the most interesting points were -

- Looking after body, mind AND spirit are important. The book has specific suggestions.
- Every successive episode of depression damages the mood pathways in the brain, making it more likely that another episode will occur. However, medication can assist with this.
- Lowering stress levels will reduce the likelihood of a depressive illness
- Genetic influences are responsible for half the risk fractors for developing depression, environment is the other 50%.
- People have different psychological makeups, so different events will affect them differently. As two people may bruise differently physically, so their brains will 'bruise' differently from different emotional events.

I must say I feel less guilty after reading this book. It's got a few different strategies for me to try, too. Definitely not wasted money!