Well, the second edition of The Depression Cure is now available! This is the same book that I wrote this post about over a year ago. I don’t believe in digital content after Apple deleted my entire iTunes library for absolutely no reason, so I got the paper book at Barnes & Noble. This is what it looks like:
Now, mind you, I’m not entirely against pharmaceutical interventions. Actually, the author of The Depression Cure isn’t, either. However, he is 100% correct (in my opinion) that it’s ludicrous that medications are usually the first intervention given to people, and even more ludicrous that some people think that medication is going to be the primary way of solving depression. Someone once told me that, for serious trauma, medication is going to be 10% of the solution. So, don’t stop taking your meds. However, take them knowing that 90% of the solution is going to be things other than medication.
Now, Dr Ilardi does recommend some supplements as a part of a healthy lifestyle, which makes sense because the modern diet is very different from that of our paleolithic ancestors. So, while I was in the funny farm last month, I took the liberty of writing out a whole note to the pharmacist to see what she thought. (Yes, I see the irony, but she is a lovely person, honest!) Either she’s just really intrinsically motivated, or most patients in the funny farm don’t read a book and hand-write a whole note asking for input during their stay. But, she typed out her response and talked about it with me! Which, one thing about me, is I learn more from reading than from hearing. So, it seems like I’m just ignoring people in favor of whatever book I happen to be reading. But if that person wrote a book, I would be devouring that as well. Anyway, this is what the pharmacist said (purple edits by me):
“Ow man, Apostate Turtle, you covered up the dosages!” Yep, sure did. I’m not here to go to jail for copyright infringement. Besides, it’s a great book, and you should buy it. The pharmacist was underwhelmed I guess, but I think there were studies, just not as many references to them on the pages that I suggested to the pharmacist. Besides, this book has three things that are great:
- It’s in print
- It frequently references hunter-gatherers (who, as it happens, are rarely if ever depressed)
- It has really, really specific directions.
None of this, “[XYZ supplement] is good; you can take it however you want,” or “Maybe try being out in the sun more often.” The book gives directions and a week-by-week plan to implement them.
Now, I just spent a lot of time on the supplements section, but that’s literally one-sixth of his Therapeutic Lifestyle Change. There are five other important points. And the entire thing is laced with the message, “The problem is not you!” As in, I wasn’t just genetically hardwired so that severe trauma resulted in a “chemical imbalance.” Modern society is just toxic, and the home that I grew up in was massively more toxic than even the average household, even according to the measurements used in the book. So, for example, most people are socially starved compared to the way humans instinctively expect to live. But I was in solitary confinement. So it makes sense that an unnatural environment produced an unnatural “mental illness” that was never an intrinsic part of me as a person.
So, all that to say, I would 100% recommend the book! I’ll let you know how the week-to-week stuff goes, as well. Right now, I’m focusing on finishing up the safety plan and getting to some degree of functioning before I can start ascending Maslow’s Hierarchy. But, having this book up my sleeve gives me one more piece of hope that things can be okay someday ♥️