Page 49 - NAMAH-Apr-2016

Namah Book reviews

what it is about and what needs to be done personally tried.
when someone near to them is going through
this dark tunnel. It is after all a real-living Indeed, we are taken through a personal
experience of someone who has lived through journey where we are shown the various
and survived the dark phase trying multiple landscapes and contours of the subjective
things on the road to recovery. All this makes inner space of the clients. Once we are
the book extremely enriching and engages the reasonably oriented the author embarks on
readers almost as a real-time psychological engaging us in understanding the various
thriller where the client engages in an inner strategies not just as pieces of advice
battle against invisible enemies that hold but with an empathy that understands
his mind at bay. Yes, what makes the book the client’s mind when he or she is going
especially interesting is that the writer is through this dark phase. This makes the
someone who has experienced depression book not only interesting but also a real-time
first hand for years and gone through all the narrative creating a vivid impression upon
trials and travails of it, often by herself. She our mind. Written by someone who is not
has come out of the dark tunnel victoriously only intelligent and well-informed about
and therefore can truly say that ‘at the end the subject but also sensitive and insightful,
of the tunnel there is Light.’ the book is a rare combination of richness of
content and beauty of expression making it a
What is important is that she is willing to pleasant and interesting reading. It is surely
share her experience of the dark tunnel and a landmark in the field of medical writing
help us orient to its scary and often unknown that both physicians and clients will find
landscape so that we are not caught unawares extremely helpful.
and if we slip into it we can use a number
of strategies to emerge from it successfully. Not only is it strongly recommended for
And there are quite a good number of very doctors and their patients caught up in a
useful things that are given here. From state of depression but it is also useful for
a clear understanding of various types of the average layperson who would want to
medications available to treat depression to simply increase his knowledge base about
psychological strategies such as cognitive something that is so common and yet can be
therapy, from common things such as diet so distressing. We cannot thank the author
and exercise to lesser known processes such enough for sharing her experiences and
as body-work, the book includes useful and giving others a clearer road-map and a better
practical insights from yoga and meditation insight into this psychological ‘black-hole’
to counter depression. However, instead of that sucks our hope and energy and will.
providing us with a simple list of do’s and One can well summarise it as a light that is
don’ts, the author presents us with a variety thrown into the dark worlds where we get
of possible strategies and methods, their caught, a light that helps us understand the
scope and limitations and finally leaves us dragnet and helps us emerge out of the well
to make use of these methods that she has into which we have fallen.

— Dr. Alok Pandey

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