Finally, a book about depression that doesn't try to make you replace "sad" thoughts with "happy" thoughts. It was really refreshing to find a book so down to earth about the realities of depression that also gave me great hope for living a full life even though I have depression. This book explores what it really means to live with depression full time and not be afraid of it. I especially liked the examples of the lives of the Saints and what it meant to them to live with the symptoms of depression.

This book really had an impact on my life. I've had depressive bipolar states for as long as I can remember and dealing with this illness has become the most challenging thing in my life. When I started reading the book I was skeptical that there could be anything positive in depression, but I was looking for anything positive that might help me. Tom Wootton has created that in The Depression Advantage. It taught me to cope more effectively with my depression and how to find a spiritual richness that I never knew could exist in the midst of my depression. This book is not a fake cure all book. It's honest and straight forward and Tom writes in an easy to read style that makes it seem like the author is right there with you. I hope you will take the opportunity to give this book a try. I did and it helped me enormously.