Hendrika de Vries Reviews New Self-Help Book on The New Book Review

From Depression to Contentment

Subtitle: A self-therapy guide

By Bob Rich, Ph.D.

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-435-9 paperback 

http://bobswriting.com/psych/depression.html

Reviewed by Hendrika de Vries

In all my over thirty years of practicing psychotherapy I have read and recommended many self-help books, but seldom have I found one that speaks to me with the spiritual wisdom of Bob Rich’s From DEPRESSION to CONTENTMENT. Here is a book that offers an attitude to life that can change your world-view even if you are not suffering from depression. It is a book not to be read in one sitting, but to be turned to again and again for daily words of wisdom and encouragement.

Dr. Rich puts our current epidemic of depression in a larger framework that helps the reader understand the nature of suffering and provides incremental small steps, baby steps, to move through the helplessness and overwhelm. He generously shares his personal experiences but also reminds us of the deep wisdom found in such timeless works as Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Mihály Csikszentmihályi’s Flow. He even includes a chapter on reincarnation and past lives that I found especially fascinating.

It’s like being given a spiritual tool kit. I have a daughter who is a sculptor. When she was a little girl, my father, a craftsman, taught her to use tools. Upon his death, the only thing she desired was his old tool kit. It had everything in it she needed, she said, because his love was in the tools he taught her to use. This book reminds me of that. Not just a self-help book, but a tool kit filled with the timeless wisdom available to us whether we need guidance to move through depression or just a refresher course in the meaning of life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Bob Rich lives inside his computer, because whenever he looks outside it, the news is full of too much horrible stuff. Various countries are acting as terrorists by slaughtering the civilians inside other countries (they pretend that war isn’t terrorism). Those who have so much wealth they don’t know what to do with it are using every means possible to steal more from those who don’t have enough. And the entire global economy is designed to kill all complex life on this planet, for example by bathing everything in chemicals that kill insects, birds, fish and the good bugs inside your digestive system. So, things are MUCH better within that computer. If you want to have a peek in there, visit Bob’s blog, Bobbing Around at https://bobrich18.wordpress.com

Learn more about Dr Bob Rich at Twitter @bobswriting. He writes with two mottos in mind, Commit random acts of kindness and Live simply so you may simply live.  

http://bobswriting.com

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 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

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Writer Kristin Johnson Gives Thorough Take on Dr. Bob Rich's Newest Book

From Depression to Contentment: A self-therapy guide

Bob Rich, Ph.D.

Loving Healing Press

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-435-9 paperback 

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-436-6 hardcover

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-437-3 eBook

http://bobswriting.com/psych/depression.html

Reviewed by Kristin Johnson

I've read many selfhelp books, and author Dr. Bob Rich's book, while treading some familiar ground or flying familiar skies (sensible recommendations on meditation, diet, social connections, exercise, creativity, not getting caught up in owning "stuff"), does offer the unique observation that "You need to be crazy to stay sane in a crazy world," and also focuses on treating the whole person (including the effects on the family), not the depression as a disease or dis-ease.

I am a reader and writer, not a mental health professional, so I approach it from a reader's perspective.

Professionals and patients might debate the fact that chemical imbalances and genetics don't play a role in depression the way Dr. Rich asserts, and that society is responsible for depression. There is room to have a reasoned debate about that--not a polarized, angry one on social media, which does negatively impact people.

However, Dr. Rich's entire goal is to let people know they don't have to feel doomed to be depressed forever because of genetics or a chemical imbalance. He wants to give the reader the tools to change their lives. He says, "More than ever, we need to look at alternatives to drugs that will equip us to deal effectively with the triggers that allow depression to take hold again and again. This is where drug treatments fail." He also states that "the causation of any psychological reaction is always complex."

He comes across as sincere, and he knows depression because he overcame it and he has been a practicing psychotherapist. Upfront he provides sensible advice for people who are in a crisis. He says, "Something works for everyone, but nothing works for everyone. If you find that the program in this book doesn’t work for you, the best investment you can make is 8 to 20 sessions of therapy with a good psychologist."

Also, he provides exercises for people to do--homework. You might think that would be counterintuitive for people who struggle with depression, but as Dr. Rich writes, "Whatever your depression tells you, do the opposite." So for example, if your depression tells you to oversleep or live as an insomniac, just get regular sleep. This is a generalization because he does advocate having regular fun, creating meaning, eating sensibly, and so on. He says these solutions are mostly free, and the ones that cost money (like eating healthy food) have other benefits. Meditation is also free (he does an entire chapter on meditation and likes the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, as well as Viktor Frankl.)

He also says that the label or diagnosis of depression is not an explanation. He describes it as "putting suffering in boxes" and as a useful tool for pharmaceutical companies. He adds, "That’s not to say that antidepressants don’t work. They do have a role to play, but at best, they ease the symptoms while you take the drug, so you can work on your problems." And he may be on to something that just because depression runs in families, that's not evidence for the heredity-only explanation. As he says, depression is complex.

One of his biggest points is emphasizing compassion and connectedness, and says that "deliberately making the choice of treating all other humans as our brothers and sisters is one of the major defenses against depression." (Not always possible when people wrong us, but a goal to aspire to.) He also points out that romantic love has a flaw because it insists on someone making you happy and loving you, rather than seeking someone to love. "Love that lasts a long time, and is likely to make you feel contented, is different. In contrast to such taking love, it is giving love: 'I want someone to love.' If two people have this attitude to each other, and both are in the relationship in order to make the other happy, then you have something wonderful."

There's so much in this book that you'll want to slow down and digest it piece by piece--and do the homework.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Kristin Johnson is a prize-winning/prize finalist writer, blogger, ghostwriting/creative writing consultant, screenwriter, and editor. A graduate of the former Master of Professional Writing Program from the University of Southern California, she has published/collaborated on seven books. Her current book AIN'T "U" GOT NO MANNERS has been called "the Bible for social media." She is a member of the Desert Screenwriters Guild, Society of Children’s Books and Illustrators, and Palm Springs Women in Film and Television.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Bob Rich is actually a 12 year old girl called Geraldine, with magical powers. Using her computer, she has materialized an Australian storyteller, psychotherapist, builder, nurse, editor, and most important, Professional Grandfather. Given her life experience after all of 12 years, she has got her creation to write 18 published books, four of which are paychological self-help. You can admire her creativity at Bobbing Around, https://bobrich18.wordpress.com which can be informative, inspiring, helpful, annoying — but never boring. Learn more at http://bobswriting.com and Twitter at

Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com

@bobswriting.  His motto: Commit random acts of kindness. Live simply so you may simply live.

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG, ABOUT GETTING REVIEWS, AND ANOTHER FREEBIE

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too! 

A Book About Depression for Everyone!

Title: From Depression to Contentment: A self-therapy guide

Author: Bob Rich, Ph.D.

Reviewer: Theresa Hortley I

Author Website: http://bobswriting.com/psych/depression.html

Genre: Nonfiction: Psychology self-help

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-435-9 

Rating 5 stars

Buy link:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1615994351/    

Reviewed by Theresa Hortley 

I don't suffer from depression, but read this book because I am privileged to be one of Bob Rich's beta readers. All the same, "From Depression to Contentment" has proven to be immensely useful to me personally.

Depression is everywhere. Every year, a distressingly high proportion of the kids I teach are obviously depressed. Friends, relatives, colleagues -- it's all around me. Now, I can understand where they are coming from, and can be more effective in helping them, though not as a therapist of course.

But this is far more than a self-help book. It is an inspiration. One sentence late in the book has captured me: "knowingly or unknowingly, all of us are apprentice Buddhas."

Depressed or not, if you read this book, you will become a better person.

You wouldn't expect a book about depression to be humorous, but in typical Bob Rich style, he got me chuckling time and again. Just one example: a patient told Bob that he'd known all his life that he didn't matter. Bob's reply: "Right. You crawled out of the womb believing you didn't matter?"

All of Bob's novels I've read are full of therapeutic lessons. Here is a book designed as a set of therapeutic lessons that is as enjoyable to read as any novel.    

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Theresa Horley is a high school teacher of English which makes her a formidable beta reader.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Bob Rich, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in psychology in 1972. He worked as an academic, researcher, and applied scientist until “retiring” the first time at 36 years of age. Later, he returned to psychology and qualified as a Counseling Psychologist, running a private practice for over 20 years. During this time, he was on the national executive of the College of Counselling Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), then spent three years as a Director of the APS. He was the therapist referrers sent their most difficult cases to.

Bob retired in 2013, but still does pro bono counseling over the internet. This has given him hundreds of “children” and “grandchildren” he has never met, because many of these people stay in touch for years. His major joy in life is to be of benefit to others, which is why he wrote a book that’s in effect a course of therapy.

You can get to know him well at his blog, "Bobbing Around," https://bobrich18.wordpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobswriting and find his newsletter at https://bobrich18.wordpress.com. 

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS AND ANOTHER FREEBIE

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!