Win the Battle: The 3-Step Lifesaving Formula to Conquer Depression and Bipolar Disorder Hardcover – January 25, 1999

This book is helpful if you're at the end of your rope. Basically, it instructs you not to give up, and tells you how the author eventually became cured through perseverence. It does not give you practical ways to overcome your depression, ie cognitive therapy or other kinds of self help. It motivates you to seek help and try every possible way to get better-- different doctors, medications, etc.

Its really simple mantra which it repeats throughout the book is a weapon in the arsenal for defeating bipolar disorder. Essentially, don't give up, keep trying. Don't give up, keep trying.

I first learned about this book in a support group at McLean Hospital. It was recommended to me by the facilitator because my depression was deepening and I was losing hope that I would ever get better. I was even thinking about suicide. I decided to get the book because I learned that Doctor Phillip Isenberg from that hospital wrote the Foreword for it. I also learned that authors Doctor Demitri Papolos and Doctor Donald Klein recommend it as well. I am so grateful that my support group facilitator brought this book to my attention. People say the author's formula is simple, but that is why I love it. It is the simplicity of it that keeps me going. When I'm really depressed, I can't deal with anything complicated. That's what depression does to me. I find it hard to think straight. The author's easy steps keep me focused on everything I need to do. I usually can't focus on much else. Mostly, however, this book has given me hope. It is a book that I read every time I feel I can't face another day. Inspiration and hope is what keeps patients like me going when nothing else seems to be working. I loved this book and recommend it to anyone who is depressed. It might not change your life overnight, but it has kept me alive during my most difficult times.

The author and I agree philosophically that moderate to severe depression or bipolar disorder is probably best treated with medication. However, the lack of solid information about psychotherapy in this book is something I don't agree with. And the quality of writing isn't that great, either. Nonetheless, the author has a somewhat unique approach to treating mental illness that is worth hearing. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

I wish so much that this book had been written when I was first diagnosed with depression - Bob Olson's story would have been worth more than a hundred visits to the therapist's office. Instead of laboring under the unshakable reality of being a clinically depressed individual, I believe this book could have spurred me on to achieve balanced mental health. Although I have already become a "success story" through medication, part one of "Win The Battle" is wonderfully inspiring, and I believe it will be to anyone who has been confronted with obstacles in life, whether they be mental/health, personal, monetary or other. Part two is especially valuable; in it's forthright openness and insight into the depressive mind. It simply must be read by anyone with depression, bipolar disorder and people working and living with these individuals.

I found this book misleading, it makes the reader believe that Bipolar Disorder is easy to cure if you follow a few simple steps. For those of us, who have close relatives who suffer the disease and have to endure it, this book is an insult. Where is the maelstrom where the whole family is thrown during the manic pahses? Where is the dispair of the patient during the depressive periods? Where is the fight to convince the patient, who is either a god or scum, to seek help? There is nothing "romantic" in this illness, bad wheather brings depression, good whether brings mania, with short intervals in between. And the solution is not around the corner for everyone.This comment is also a criticism to the lack of responsibility of the editors, who chose to publish it.

Having read earlier reviews of this book, feel compelled to write and defend the author in the light of criticisms of 'poorly written...' etc. Any contribution made in sincerity about treatment approaches to this illness with its known appalling consequences (potentially) are valid and, in my view, worth hearing. I find the tone of the some of the earlier reviews most objectionable - as a graduate of literature and as a very reluctant acceptant of the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and eventual compliance with ongoing (indefinitely?) medication.Effects of manic phases can be disastrous as outlined by Kay Jamieson in her texts and responsiblilities to children and the potential distress to them lead to acceptance of medical viewpoint re benefits of lithium. Some reviewers seem trite and slightly patronising in tone...... am I alone in feeling this?

Written by a guy who obviously knows what it means to be depressed, this book takes the almost overwhelming concept of "How To Beat Depression & Bipolar Disorder" and spells it out in the easiest of terms. Does it mean you will get better next week just by reading it? No. But it teaches the reader what he needs to be doing to get better. And even more, it teaches why there is hope for ending your suffering.This is the first book recommended to me by my support group. Over several months, I read the book at least nine times. Today, I have a medication that relieves me of my symptoms. What more can I say. If you suffer, read this book.