Eating, Drinking, Overthinking by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema

This book is subtitled '"Women’s destructive relationship with food, alcohol and depression – and how to break free'.  It is the second of Dr Nolen-Hoesksema’s books focussing on women and depression. 

The book looks at how unhelpful behaviours such as eating too much or too little or drinking too much slow down, and make more complicated, recovery from depression. It also takes an in-depth look at the ways that unhelpful or negative ways of thinking (especially the tendency to chew things over or “ruminate”) can fuel depression and unhelpful behaviours to create what she calls a “toxic triangle” that can be difficult to get out of.

This book is very practical and includes lots of exercises and activities to get readers thinking about how to tackle problems. It is well researched and packed with information. The inclusion of engaging real life stories effectively breaks up the flow of information and activities and gives the book the pace and humanity that makes it a good read.

There are plenty of self help books out there - why should you read this one? Three things make this book different:

• It successfully attempts to look at three problems that are usually seen as very separate- eating, drinking and mood. This might be helpful for anyone who feels that their experience of depression can’t be pinned down to one cause or one problem.

• The author is very good at explaining, in non-technical terms, what the research says about these three problems and why you should consider using the techniques outlined in the book.

• The book is realistic but positive. The author maintains that some of our vulnerabilities (e.g. using our imaginations to think up the worst possible catastrophe from an event) can be used to our advantage (e.g. by using our imaginations to think of solutions to unhelpful behaviours/problems). This is an encouraging antidote to other approaches which focus on how broken we are by depression: not on our ability to recover and achieve positive mental health.

So if you are looking for a self help book that is both human and practical I would highly recommend this one - whether you are a woman or not!