Bibliotherapy for depression [View all]

Didn't realize this was an actual thing, studied clinically.

Have been on antidepressants for the past 12 years (since about a year and a half after quitting drinking), various types and doses, but lately I'm really getting tired of them not making a huge difference for me.

So, I recently decided to take a different, two-pronged approach:

(1) I did a bit of research and ordered several books on depression (NOT from Amazon) and am just starting the third one: "Feeling Good" by David D. Burns, M.D. I'm still in the introduction, which describes a study done in which depression patients were encouraged to read the book "Feeling Good" within a four week period. The drop-out percentage was lower than most other outcome studies using drugs or psychotherapy. Fascinating... should be interesting to see what happens for me.

https://feelinggood.com/2017/10/04/feeling-good-bibliotherapy-does-it-really-work-or-is-it-just-hype/

(2) I'm a little over a week into a new exercise routine - these have always failed for me in the past, I feel kinda like a smoker who tries and fails numerous times to quit. The difference this time is that (without notifying my doctor) I have decided to substitute the exercise for the medication. Therefore if I don't exercise, it's like not taking my medication - and I am not the kind of person who doesn't take their medication. So, this is my way of getting leverage over myself.

Of course since I'm doing both things at once, I won't be able to tell if it's the "bibliotherapy" or the exercise or both that lead to improvement (if any) in my symptoms. But at this point I don't care, I'm tired of being my own scientific experiment and I just want to get better. If things go south I can always start taking the medication again, of course. We shall see what we shall see.