Monday, September 8, 2014

Resources: Reading List

Here are some books to help Catholics struggling with depression:

1.  Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression and Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes, by Therese Borchard.  

Written by a Catholic wife, mother, and blogger, Beyond Blue speaks of the everyday struggles of living with mental illness, from the toll it takes on her family to the role her faith plays in her battle for healing.  Its wry, conversational style and down-to-earth approach make it very accessible, and Borchard makes for an amiable companion on the journey through depression and anxiety.

2.  Surviving Depression: A Catholic Approach, by Kathryn J. Hermes.

Sr. Kathryn Hermes, herself struggling with bipolar depression, provides a consoling, peaceful voice on the path towards healing with her recommendations for prayer, meditation, and contemplation.

3.  Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: Faith, Mental Illness, and the Journey to Wholeness, by Nancy Kehoe.

Sr. Nancy Kehoe is a licensed psychologist who examines the role of faith and spirituality in treating the mentally ill.  She speaks of her struggles in getting the psychiatric community to take spirituality and religion seriously in the lives of patients with mental illness, and she testifies to the triumphs of the spirit in her own clients as they come to terms with their faith and their illnesses.

4.  The Catholic Guide to Depression: How the Saints, the Sacraments, and Psychiatry Can Help You Break Its Grip and Find Happiness Again, by Aaron Kheriaty.  

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty is a Catholic psychiatrist who explains depression from both a theological and a clinical perspective, helping patients and their families see that depression is not a moral failing but an illness that requires professional treatment but that can also benefit from prayer and spiritual support.


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