Review

Survival strategies

DEALING WITH DEPRESSION
Gerrilyn Smith and Kathy Nairne
Women’s Press, 2001, £8.99

Smith and Nairne are respected writers and psychologists, who aim to focus on women and issues specific to them, to explore some practical routes, outcomes and possibilities.

This book does not disappoint. It is not a cliché to say that depression is in itself a massive issue for women — few women who get through their life without peering into the ‘black hole’ at some time or other. Yet this huge population continues to be regularly misunderstood and often inappropriately treated by their GPs.

Certainly, self-help books on depression abound, many of them aimed at women. But this volume is different. It approaches the topic from new perspectives where possible and genuinely tries to evaluate the value or otherwise of alternative approaches. It gives more depth to each item than similar books on the subject. It gives realistic advice about the medication that a woman might be offered, and a sound, comprehensive list of self-help organisations and sources to contact.

Smith and Nairne prove themselves readable and sympathetic authors, but this is no coffee-table book. Many professional workers would value this book, and student nurses might also benefit from the depth of insight and reflection it offers with regard to certain situations. But its application is far from limited to nursing, or even to health-related professions. Possibly everyone concerned with women and their welfare could find this book useful at some time.

I shall personally be recommending it to colleagues, but I will not be lending them my copy — this is a book to hang on to and to refer to again and again.