From Depression to Contentment: A Self-Therapy Guide
Bob Rich, Ph.D.
Loving Healing Press (2019)
ISBN 9781615994359
Reviewed by Rachel Dehning for Reader Views (6/20)
How we feel physically and mentally can make or break us. Dr. Bob Rich understands this and has the experience and expertise to solicit his advice unto our eager ears. In his book, “From Depression to Contentment: a Self-Therapy Guide,” Dr. Rich digs into the topic of depression and helps the reader make sense of this debilitating issue. “From Depression to Contentment” lives up to its promise by being very thorough in explaining every way in which depression can take hold of your life, and then teaches the reader how to take back control of their life to ease their symptoms. Dr. Rich’s book is a self-help book, providing the necessary information for the reader to be able to apply it to their own life in order to live a happier, more fulfilling life.
Everything about depression that Dr. Rich says in his book makes sense, is informationally correct, and can be easily done by any reader, as long as they are willing to put forth the effort. Anything that needs fixing in our lives requires some work, and depression is far from the exception. I appreciate how he covers the expanse of influence that depression has on a person’s life, but then also provides solid and attainable goals to work toward.
I also appreciate the extra resources through websites and book suggestions to add to our knowledge on this subject. He writes with a mostly positive and personal tone so that the reader can’t help but feel that they are sitting in his office, receiving his expert help in person. I say “mostly” above because the reader will find some of his personal beliefs interspersed in the text that might not be a shared opinion among everyone.
“From Depression to Contentment: a Self-Therapy Guide,” by Dr. Bob Rich should be known and read by everyone to help reduce the number of cases of depression around the world.
Sherry Lynn Jones
Why you are uniquely qualified to write this book?
I can tell these stories because I have lived them and know the difference between dramatic representations and real life. Like many, I grew up watching the EMS and ER shows on television that focused on the hero aspect, providing predictable outcomes, and an unrealistic percentage of happy endings. Although television and movie depictions are more factual these days, the truth about how the emergency worker feels remains mostly hidden. My slant is in telling another side of the story: what responders think and feel during calls, how they internalize tragedy, what happens after the call, and how our world turns upside down when the patient is someone we love.
Why did you write this book?
When I tell people what I do, they focus on the gory side of life, like those who cannot look away from the scene of a bad accident. What they do not realize until it happens to them is that trauma affects someone who is loved and cherished, and lives are forever changed. I want people to see the world for a moment through my eyes, to walk with me through the broken glass, to sit next to me and hold the hand of the injured or dying, to fight against death thinking that sometimes we just might have the power to win those battles. And then I want them to see the complete lunacy of it all and laugh.
What do you think readers will get out of it?
I am hoping that readers will see emergency service workers in a new light and realize we are human, too. We have our own challenges, pains, and sorrows. We have had surgeries, major illnesses, broken bones, and our share of emotional scars. We have been in accidents, our backs are killing us from lifting, and our feet ache after shifts that last from 12 to 24 hours, often without a break. We also realize the importance of last words, how sometimes the sound of an “I love you” has to last a lifetime.
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