Image: Control Your Depression by Len Lantz (CC BY-NC-ND)
Synopsis: Len's Star Rating: 4 out of 10. A dated yet solid book on strategies and exercises for improving depression that includes an excellent chapter on behavioral activation strategies.
BY LEN LANTZ, MD, author of unJoy / 6.29.2021; No. 35
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Star Rating – 4 out of 10
Rating guide: 1 = horrible, 5 = average and 10 = wow
Authors
Peter Lewinsohn, Ricardo Muñoz, Mary Ann Youngren, Antonette Zeiss
About the authors
Peter Lewinsohn, PhD, served as the Director of the Neuropsychology Laboratory at the University of Oregon and later as a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute.
Ricardo Muñoz, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology, Palo Alto University and the Founder of the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health).
Mary Ann Youngren, PhD, is a Professor Emerita of Psychology at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
Antonette Zeiss, PhD, served as chief consultant for mental health services at the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office – the first woman and the first psychologist to hold this position.
General description
Control Your Depression is a self-help book for depression that was first published in 1986. It is based on Social Learning Theory in understanding both why depression occurs and how certain strategies are effective for alleviating depression. The authors also incorporate approaches found in Dr. Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and Dr. Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Topics covered in this book include:
A brief description of depression as understood through Social Learning Theory
Developing a plan for improving depression
Tools for relaxing, including the Daily Relaxation Monitoring Form
The use of behavioral activation to improve mood
Strategies for becoming more assertive
A plan for increasing social connections and friendships
Ideas for reducing the chances that depression will recur
Unique and most important aspects
Control Your Depression is one of the few books researched as a bibliotherapy intervention for depression. There are some very helpful ideas and approaches in the book, however, it has its limitations that might be expected in a book that was last revised nearly 30 years ago. While Control Your Depression is by no means an unhelpful book, it is missing features that a current reader would expect, such as updated language use with less gender stereotyping, research cited in the main text (not just in the preface) showing that the approaches actually work and ideas and stories that provide hope earlier in the text. Control Your Depression is a bit heavy on theory and instructions, with an emphasis on assessing, monitoring and tracking behaviors. The ideas and exercises are likely to feel more accessible to a reader who has the support and encouragement of a psychotherapist.
One of the most important contributions of this book is the chapter “Pleasant Activities,” which is an approachable review of Behavioral Activation, one of the most powerful strategies for treating depression. However, I disagreed with the authors’ statement that “we can say that depression itself is learned.” I believe a more accurate statement is that “depression can be learned,” however, there are many possible causes and contributors to the development of major depressive disorder. Important features of this book include:
The tool of Contracting
The utility of daily mood charting
The use of the Beck Depression Inventory
The Pleasant Events Schedule
The Social Activities Questionnaire
A review of techniques for interrupting or addressing negative thoughts
The use of Role Sketch in improving your personal traits
Best quotes
“Many of the techniques described in this book have been used in more than 50 scientifically controlled treatment outcome studies in which they have shown to be efficacious, sometimes singly, but most often in combination. Coping with Depression courses, for which Control Your Depression has served as the textbook, have been evaluated in five scientific studies. In all of these studies, the experience has been associated with improvement in approximately 80% of the participants.”
“Each one of us has his or her own set of potentially pleasant activities. In a very real sense, each of us must discover for ourselves which activities are pleasant for us. In order to identify activities that are potentially pleasant, relevant, and meaningful to a particular person, the first step consists of having the person describe them. Interestingly, the nature of the activities that are a source of pleasure does not change very much as we get older. So, as soon as we know what kinds of activities are pleasant for us, we have discovered something very basic about ourselves.”
“Many people who experience depression think of themselves as having an ‘illness’ that must be ‘cured.’ This is one way of thinking about depression. An alternate way to think about it (and the way on which this book is based) is to see depression as an experience produced by the way you have learned to think, act and feel. Therefore, in order to deal with depression, you need to think of yourself as actively learning new ways to think, act and feel. As you learn new patterns of thought and behavior, you will begin to feel less depressed.”
Who would enjoy this book?
People who are looking for an evidence-based bibliotherapy resource for depression with strategies and exercises from a Social Learning Theory perspective would likely enjoy Control Your Depression.
Who would not enjoy this book?
Anyone who would be bothered by a book with dated language and a degree of gender stereotyping or who is looking for an engaging, humorous and encouraging self-help book on depression is unlikely to enjoy Control Your Depression.
Conclusion
Control Your Depression is a dated yet solid book on strategies and exercises for improving depression that includes an excellent chapter on behavioral activation strategies.