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Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin


Richard Gilpin is a counsellor, cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and mindfulness instructor. He's also suffered from depression since his teens and is well aware of just how debilitating it can be. In Mindfulness and Black Dogs ( a nod to Churchill who referred to his depression as his black dog) he shares his own experiences with the illness and offers insights as to how a sufferer can find a way through the weight which descends upon them. He looks particularly at how mindfulness can help.

Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin

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Buy Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Lifestyle
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Reviewed by Sue Magee
Summary: A beautifully produced book which might give you an insight into another way through depression.
Buy? Maybe Borrow? Yes
Pages: 144 Date: September 2012
Publisher: Ivy Press
ISBN: 978-1907332920

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Gilpin begins by explaining that the books is about mindfulness and depression: Both are concepts that refer to particular psychological states or processes, but because these states are experiences, neither is particularly easy to encapsulate in language. I understand depression having been a sufferer for many years and after reading Black Dogs and Blue Days I am aware that I have experienced mindfulness and can recognise the lift which it gives me. The principle of acknowledging, even befriending, depression is thought provoking although I fear that I have a long way to go down that path as I cannot quite bring myself to acknowledge it as my depression. We are still at daggers drawn.

I did appreciate the short contributions made by others - usually internationally recognised experts in mindfulness and several with a Buddhist source - and found many of them soothing and uplifting. Along with the main body of the book they've prompted me to read further about mindfulness, which does seem to have the potential to offer an alternative to conventional treatments.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Shoot the Damn Dog by Sally Brampton helped me considerably, not least because I knew I was not alone.

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Buy Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression by Richard Gilpin at Amazon.com.

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