Depression can be difficult to detect and easy to dismiss. Yet it can become a debilitating and serious illness if not checked. The aim of this book is to convince depressed people and their families that depression - however frightening and painful - is neither totally incapacitating nor a permanent affliction. Dr Caroline Shreeve gives a careful explanation of the nature of depressive illness and how it comes about, its various forms and symptoms and the current standard techniques of therapy. She gives advice on coping with stress and sets out a self-help programme with which sufferers can help themselves to conquer the illness.