The Antidepressant Survival Program : How to Beat the Side Effects and Enhance the Benefits of Your Medication
Author: M.D. Robert J. Hedaya
List Price: $24.00
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ISBN: 0609604651
Publisher: Crown (15 February, 2000)
Sales Rank: 31,715
Average Customer Rating: 3.62 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pretty good, down to earth, but incomplete
Dr. Hedaya's book should be able to help most of the depressed people out there. His holistic approach is important, especially his advice to get aerobic exercise daily. Again, if the AVERAGE moderately depressed person follows this program, they should see significant improvement, along with taking an antidepressant, of course. But not everyone will benefit, as you have read from some of the other reviews. Even taking an antidepressant, exercising, eating right, taking supplements and having a "spiritual" connection (religion, meditation, etc.) will not be enough for some people (up to 30% of those depressed). This is because there are other problems besides serotonin deficiency in depression. Anxiety may be worsened by antidepressants, and many mood disorders may be caused by a Histamine imbalance (in fact, two-thirds of Schizophrenics have a Histamine imbalance). If you still have anxiety after taking an antidepressant, lower the dose! (and try Buspar, then Ativan). And get your histamine level checked by an Endocrinologist. Another good book about self-help with mental illness is The Failures of American Medicine.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Disturbing, if not exploitive, self-help literature.
Depression is a serious illness, especially for those who have not been helped by antidepressants or who have possibly even experienced an exerbation of their symptoms following a regimen of SSRI meds. Sadly, Dr. Hedaya's book raises questions about his sincerity in helping those with depression, not to mention suspicions about his understanding of the disabling features of the disease or his compassion with those afflicted by it.What you will find here is an overwhelming miscellany of recommendations, directives, and advice--from diet to exercise to meditation to testing for thyroid and endocrine functioning to social and psychological counseling. He may as well have told the depressed reader to stop being depressed, as any individual capable of carrying out Dr. Hedaya's program would practically have to be an energized, focused, motivated Olympic athlete to begin with. Any author who in the year 2000 demonizes "processed," "unnatural" foods, suggesting that whole wheat, "natural" products will help alleviate depression is not only trivializing the illness but exposing his own ignorance, arrogance, and greed.
Perhaps there is a reader likely to profit from this book: a patient who has been successfully treated by antidepressants but who is experiencing some reduction of sexual desire and who now wishes to employ his or her newfound energy in a dietary/weightlifting/positive thinking program to take therapy to a higher level.
If you are genuinely depressed, if you are concerned about side-effects other than a diminishing of libido, if you wish to learn anything specific about the chemistry and effects of a complex array of various antidepressant medications, look elsewhere.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Dr. Hedaya is Committed and Devoted
Recently, I was browsing through the Internet checking out literature on depression and couldn't believe that I came across Dr. Robert Hedaya for he was at one time my psychopharmacologist, pscyhotherapist...he was my salvation. And, I have only one regret: not staying with him longer in therapy. Nonetheless, I am therefore responding because I was upset by some of the comments by readers. I assure you that this man does not lack compassion -- his commitment to one is not easily or readily noticeable until you find that one day he has somehow strengthened you, he has provided you with the tools necessary to pick yourself up and to carry on ... he works with the mind and body ... I have heard countless stories of his compassion and I am one of the survivors who owes tribute to his knowledge and his commitment to the process. I remember feeling better when I would walk out of his office... I still remember his words to this day... Dr.Hedaya, if you are reading this, I thank you.... S.M.W. (p.s. - I made it to California!) Similar Products
The Antidepressant Survival Guide : The Clinically Proven Program to Enhance the Benefits and Beat the Side Effectsof Your Medication
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