When Someone You Love Is Depressed - by Xavier Amador & Laura Rosen (Paperback)

About the Book

Depression profoundly affects friends and family. This practical guide is addressed to these "secondary victims". With advice on dealing with one's own feelings and effective techniques for working with a depressed person, it will help millions of people cope with one of life's most devastating and debilitating experiences.

Book Synopsis

Many books have been written for those suffering from depression, but what if you're suffering becuase someone you love is depressed? Research shows that if you are close to a depressed person, you are at a much higher risk of developing problems yourself, including anxiety, phobias, and even a kind of contagious depression. In this authoritative and compassionate book, psychologists Laura Epstein Rosen and Cavier Francisco Amador explain the mechanisms of depression that can cause communication breakdown, increase hostility, and ultimately destroy relationships. Through compelling real-life stories and step-by-step advice, the authors teach concrete methods that you and your loved one can use to protect yourselves and your relationship from depression's impact. Drawing on their own innovative research, the give sensitive guidance about how to recognize your needs, how to provide the best kind of support, and how to encourage the depressed person to seek treatment. Whether you are the partner, parent, friend, or child of a depressed person, you'll find this book and invaluable companion in you journey back to health.

Review Quotes

Peter Kramer author of Listening to Prozac Doctors Rosen and Amador perfrom a valuable service by posing the important questions: How do you cope with depression when it intrudes on an intimate relationship? Their answers contain pratical wisdom that will allow readers to make concrete decisions affecting their own well-being and that of someone they love.

About the Author

Xavier Amador, Ph.D., the coauthor of When Someone You Love Is Depressed and the psychology and health contributor for NBC's weekend Today show, is Director of the Diagnoses and Evaluation Center at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Laura Epstein Rosen, Ph.D., is Supervisor of Family Therapy Training at the Special Needs Clinic of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.