Beating the Blues

Beating the Blues : A Complete Guide to Overcoming Depression

by Seema Hingorrany

Paperback, 224 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher:  Random House India

ISBN:  9788184002836

Blurb: Can’t sleep soundly? Don’t feel like stepping out of the house? Having suicidal thoughts? You might be depressed and don’t know it yet. According to a WHO study, a mindboggling 35.9 percent of India suffers from Major Depressive Episodes (MDE). Yet depression remains a much evaded topic, quietly brushed under the carpet by most of us. In Beating the Blues, India’s leading clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and trauma researcher Seema Hingorrany provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to treating depression, examining what the term really means, its signs, causes, and symptoms. The book will equip you with: • Easy-to-follow self-help strategies and result-oriented solutions • Ways of preventing a depression relapse • Everyday examples, statistics, and interesting case-studies • Workbooks designed for Seema’s clients With clients ranging from celebrities and models to teenagers, married couples, and children, Seema decodes depression for you. Informative and user-friendly, with a foreword by Indu Shahani, the Sheriff of Mumbai, Beating the Blues is an invaluable guide for those who want to deal with depression but don’t know how.

A thing that is seen all over around us these days ubiquitously is depression and stress. People suffer from this noxious illness even without being aware of it for ages. Research has proved that about 35% of Indians suffer from depression. Many of them don’t know it, those who do either don’t take it seriously or don’t want to seek help professional help about it.  Here, Dr Seema Hingorrany comes to the rescue of such people.  

This book helps a person understand this under estimated disease better, and it would help you figure if you are a victim, and if you already know it, it’d make sure you see a doctor about it. The best thing about the book is that it tells us how to identify depression from normal life stress, for the term ‘depression’ gets misquotes a billion times in our day to day lives.

From explaining the symptoms to telling us stories of her own patients, Ms. Hingorrany had tried her best to get us acquainted to the malady and has made reading the book exceptionally interesting.

One more thing I would want to talk about Beating the Blues is the cover. Whether a person is suffering from depression or not, he would invariably get attracted to the book just seeing the cover. From my five year old cousin to my forty year old uncle, everybody would sneak a peek at the book just because of its cover, and most probably would comment on it.

This book is a bible for people who are under depression or know someone who is. It not only helps you understand the disease better, but it also helps you come out of it. It most importantly breaks the myth about shrinks. Dr. Hingorrany says that there have been times when a person would tell her that they didn’t see a psychologist because they were scared. Some would even fear that they would be given shock treatments right on the first day. Beating the Blues explains almost every step that comprises the treatment of depression. From Play Therapy to side effects of anti-depressants, the book has it all.

I recommend it to everyone who feels the need to know about the subject, and to the ones who wonder if they are the victims of the disease or know someone who is or might be. It is a Must Read!