MSI Press Blog

    Today's Publisher's Pride is  Depression Anonymous  by Dennis Ortman, which reached #150 on Amazon in depression books. Book description: When you feel depressed, suffering from a deep sadness, do you feel powerless over your mood? Does your life feel unmanageable because of it? Does your preoccupation with past hurts and regrets interfere with your life? Do you feel hopeless about finding a cure for your depression? If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may be addicted to your mood. It acts like a drug that sedates, numbs, and possesses you, causing you to sleepwalk through life. Viewing your depressed mood as an addiction, Dr. Ortman guides you through the time-tested Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to find healing and growth. He shows how the Steps offer practical wisdom to awaken your spirit deadened by your depression. The Steps provide guidance for your personal journey into the darkness of your mood so that you can discover your true self and rel

  Today's Publisher's Pride is  Depression Anonymous  by Dennis Ortman, which reached #150 on Amazon in depression books. Book description: When you feel depressed, suffering from a deep sadness, do you feel powerless over your mood? Does your life feel unmanageable because of it? Does your preoccupation with past hurts and regrets interfere with your life? Do you feel hopeless about finding a cure for your depression? If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may be addicted to your mood. It acts like a drug that sedates, numbs, and possesses you, causing you to sleepwalk through life. Viewing your depressed mood as an addiction, Dr. Ortman guides you through the time-tested Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to find healing and growth. He shows how the Steps offer practical wisdom to awaken your spirit deadened by your depression. The Steps provide guidance for your personal journey into the darkness of your mood so that you can discover your true self and relea

  excerpt from Depression Anonymous (Dennis Ortman) --  MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER Paula, a middle-aged woman suffering emotional storms: “Black moods seem to come out of nowhere and take me over. I heard them once called ‘brain storms.’ That describes what I feel perfectly. When the storm suddenly comes, there’s a howling tempest in my brain. I can’t focus on anything, can’t think clearly, and can’t make any decisions. I’m so agitated I can’t sleep and have no energy or interest to do anything. I just want to curl up in a ball and die. These storms come unannounced, blow through me, and disappear after a couple of weeks. When it happens, I’m just plain miserable and intolerable to be around. I was shy and withdrawn as a child. I really became depressed in my twenties, when I was first hospitalized for a suicide attempt. I understand where my depression came from. Almost everyone in my family has some degree of depression. My father withdrew when the moods overtook him, and my mother be

  excerpt from Depression Anonymous by Dr. Dennis Ortman PERSISTENT DEPRESSIVE DISORDER Alice, a woman feeling cheated by life: “I’ve been jinxed. Nothing has ever gone right for me. It began in childhood. I was the fat kid everyone picked on. In high school, no boys ever wanted to date me. And then there’s my health. I’ve suffered from asthma my whole life and had several auto accidents in which I was severely injured. I tried to make up for all my failures by being good at my job. I became an extremely competent executive secretary, a perfectionist. I took pride in my work. Would you believe I was fired because I complained so much about problems in the company? I just wanted the business to succeed. Even now, I’m the one who has to take care of our elderly parents because my siblings don’t want to have anything to do with them. You’d think my parents would appreciate all my help, but they just take me for granted. I often stay awake at night thinking about all the unfair thin

  Dr. Ortman writes -  I wrote three “Anonymous” books for recovery from anxiety, depression, and anger. I view these mood states as similar to drug addictions that can be relieved by working the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The seeds for these books were planted in my childhood. I was raised in an alcoholic family where I learned about the tragedy and power of addiction. As an adult, I sought healing and growth through therapy and participation in Adult Children of Alcoholics and Al-Anon groups. In graduate school, I wrote my dissertation on treating those with a dual diagnosis, that is, with both a substance use and mental health problem. Working with my patients in private practice for the past thirty years, I observed that many suffered from chemical dependencies and process addictions, such as gambling, shopping, and sexual acting out. I further noticed that many of my patients who suffered from anxiety, depression, and anger felt possessed by their moods and powerles

  Excerpt from Depression Anonymous DEPRESSION AS A DRUG  All of us feel blue from time to time. After all, sadness, sorrow, and grief are natural reactions to the loss of persons and things that are important to us. Feeling sad, we withdraw into a cocoon to soothe ourselves and adjust to the change in our life. We withdraw to nurse the wound of the loss. Feeling the pain, we inwardly search for its meaning, looking for a way of making sense of it. In this grieving process, we slowly let go of all the energy we used to put into what was lost and come to accept the void in our lives. If we do not succumb to the temptation of bitterness, the accepted pain of sorrow opens our hearts to new life and to empathy for others.  But sometimes the loss can seem unbearable and the sorrow overwhelming. The sadness reaches to the core of our being and a black cloud envelops us. We cannot escape the darkness. Our bodies, minds, and spirits become possessed. We cannot sleep or eat normally,

  Just released -- the hard cover version of the popular Depression Anonymous   by Dr. Dennis Ortman. Other versions of this book include paperback and Kindle . For more posts about Depression Anonymous , including excerpts, click HERE . For more posts about Dr. Ortman and his books, click HERE .

The following guest post by Dr. Dennis Ortman, psychologist, former priest, and MSI Press author, will form the basis of a forthcoming book on coping with pandemic conditions, called The Pandemic and Hope . POST-PANDEMIC STR ESS DISORDER  By Dennis Ortman, Ph.D.     I have a fantasy. President Trump will eventually announce victory over the Coronavirus. He will declare, “We have won the war. We have shown our greatness as a nation in working together to defeat this invisible enemy.” He will then express gratitude to all the healthcare workers, who risked their lives, those who supported all the essential services, and the entire nation. He will also report remarkable progress on a vaccine and treatment. American ingenuity again triumphs. Hopefully, this day will come sooner than later.  However, while the war may be won on one front, another remains, the inner battle against fear. We cannot rest on our laurels. Many have aptly compared this epidemic