"Getting It Done When You're Depressed, Second Edition: 50 Strategies for Keeping Your Life on Track" by Julie A. Fast and John Preston is a beacon of hope and practical guidance for those facing the challenges of depression. The authors' combined expertise in mental health shines through in this comprehensive guide. With empathy and clarity, they offer a wealth of actionable strategies to help individuals not only cope with depression, but also to thrive in their daily lives.

One of the book's standout features is its practicality. Fast and Preston provide a diverse array of strategies, each tailored to address different aspects of life affected by depression. From simple self-care practices to more complex organizational techniques, the authors cover a wide spectrum of tools that can be adapted to fit individual needs and circumstances.

The book's empathetic tone is a source of comfort for readers struggling with depression. Fast and Preston validate the unique challenges faced by individuals dealing with mental health issues, and offer support and encouragement throughout. Their understanding of the complexities of depression fosters a sense of connection and understanding for readers.

While the strategies presented in the book are valuable, some readers may find that not every technique resonates with their individual experiences. Depression manifests differently for each person, and what works for one may not work for another. Nonetheless, the wide range of strategies provided ensures that readers can find approaches that are well-suited to their own needs.

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m on the fence about the actual helpfulness of this book. Depression and productivity go hand in hand in a larger topic of self esteem! While it’s important to get things done, I feel like this book places too much emphasis on coping mechanisms to accomplish more. When the depression may stem from health issues, the hamster wheel isn’t helping - no matter how efficient it is!

Good ideas and thoughts when having to face life with depression. Had to take a lot with a grain of salt bc like most generalized treatments sometimes the advice was a little triggering!

I genuinely hope this book can help some folks. The extensive discussion of negative self-talk and unhelpful patterns could be useful if those are new ideas. It wasn't really for me though--a little too disorganized and tangential. But with any self-help, your mileage may vary.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Not what I was expecting. Decent advice, but not focused on GTD principles and not necessarily consistent with the evidence on behavior change.

Just looking for a book with some ways of dealing with depression. I found that with this book.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Getting It Done When You're Depressed gave many good insights and tips on how to get things done when you aren't in the mood, would recommend everyone to give this a read.

Ugh, I don't want to make the assumption for everyone that <em>Getting it Done When You're Depressed</em> by Julie A. Fast with input from Dr. John Preston is mostly useless. But, <em>damn</em>, did it feel that way for me. And, sure, much of Fast's career has been centered around the fact that she, too, has experienced bipolar disorder and, subsequently, depression. However, if you're going to write a book with <em>tips</em> for getting things done and keeping your life on track while dealing with depression, it helps if you <em>stay in that lane</em>.

<b>Mini Memoir vs. Actual Tips</b>

Honestly, I think my biggest problem with Fast's book is that she never really decides <em>what kind of book it is</em>. Is this meant to be a helpful workbook to provide productivity strategies for depressed people? Is it meant to be a book that empathizes and builds a feeling of community? Or is it supposed to be some sort of memoir about her struggles and how she has addressed them? Is it an exploration of information on depression with the help of professionals?

Well, by all accounts, <em>Getting it Done When You're Depressed</em> is trying to do <em>all</em> of those things. In doing so, it fails <em>spectacularly</em>. As far as I'm concerned, I picked this book up for the tips. Unfortunately, the jumble of information is so much we kind of lose those tips entirely. Fast attempts to jam as much as she possibly can into the book, creating a situation where readers have to sort through useless information in every chapter.

<b>Struggle Points</b>

The book feels deeply disorganized, despite having some semblance of organization. I guess, for me, I was looking for a workbook of sorts. What I got was some sort of hybrid, including pointless anecdotes from the author's and others' experiences. Nevermind that sometimes the content in each chapter doesn't actually provide useful tips past the idea in the title of the chapter itself. Then it just goes on to reiterate the point in different ways.

I grew really tired of the brief anecdotes about the author's experiences with depression after a while. It's very likely this wouldn't have been so annoying if it weren't for the "strategies" for dealing with depression label. The regular digression to random experiences from the author and others were thoroughly distracting. And in general they felt like a useless waste of time.

As a result, it consistently felt like the author had ideas for two separate books and not enough material to fit into either one. So, we got a mashup of ideas that made it difficult to leave the reading with useful and insightful information.

<b>In Conclusion</b>

If I were to pinpoint anything I enjoyed from this book, there would be few. For example, there were a couple ideas that really resonated with me. I also liked the inclusion of an actual doctor's thoughts on the matter. But I don't think that I would ever turn to a book like this to help me work through my depression. Its benefit is minimal. I had to sort through so much pointlessness just to get to any worthwhile information.

I don't hate <em>Getting it Done When You're Depressed</em>. But I didn't find it particularly useful in any way, either. And while I won't say that this book can't help others, I question a lot of the organization thought behind it.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This is an updated version of an earlier book, with added sections for each strategy to focus on that strategy related to modern issues like social media. There are 50 strategies and each one features an anecdote of how it helped someone that the author or co-author worked with, how it helps the author (who has suffered with extreme depression for many years and yet writes lots of books and otherwise "gets things done"), then how it relates to social media, then a script of how to explain yourself related to that one to loved ones, and then helpful hints to make it happen. I honestly don't focus much in life on social media so I tended to skip those, and after a while the little anecdotes were too repetitive to me too.

Examples of the strategies -- stop thinking that you have to be in the mood to do something to do it, do it anyway, pay people to do even little things in your life that you think you should be able to do, ask for help, cut down on caffeine, get sleep, take medication, exercise, don't judge your work until it's completed, stop listening to your depression, stop talking negatively to everybody, focus on the group instead of yourself, and break projects down into steps and finish them before starting new projects. There are a lot of strategies that boil down to "do it anyway" just worded differently.

To be honest and more than a little ironic, this book depressed me. :) I suffered with severe depression, PTSD, anxiety and more for many years in my past. I don't know that I would characterize myself as depressed now but I am grieving. I've lost many loved ones in the last few years and my husband's parents last fall, and I have always had difficulty getting things done even before that. Being human, I do deal with cycles of depression regularly too and I also have a hard time finishing things and making myself do things for whatever reason and always have, and of course I'm depressed because of the isolation from friends (my family is nearly all dead now other than my husband and kids) and other social support because of the pandemic. I think almost all of us are. But reading this book made me feel less hopeful, not more.

Most of the things on this list are things I already try to do or seem overly simplistic. And to read stories for every single strategy of how the author uses all of these strategies and still says that she can only do half as much as other people, still cries a lot of the time and suffers from terrible self doubt, etc. even after she takes medication, exercises, writes herself encouraging letters, pays people to do all kinds of things for her that others would say she should do herself, asks for help, says no to things, and on and on....

Yes, she clearly is able to write books and work despite being severely depressed, but the takeaway is that you will still continue to always be terribly depressed, just productive despite it.

I think the scripts may be helpful for people who don't know how to communicate their circumstances or their needs to others, and people may appreciate the anecdotes and tips. I will try to implement Fast's strategies and get more done, but in the end the major takeaway for me is to just make myself do things and I'm not sure how magically helpful that will be.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

Getting it Done When You're Depressed is a practical guide to living with and overcoming depression. The author lays out a number of strategies to continue to function while suffering from depression.

This book was honestly not what I was looking for, it has a strong focus on negative self talk. While something I definitely suffer with but it is by far it is not the thing that is affecting me at this time.
It also isn't in easily digestible sections, this is definitely not the book for someone at the lowest low, as finding this information isn't easily accessible. I found it hard to continue reading as I got further along.

How frustrating is it to be told by all the different sources the things you must do to be successful in life? This book definitely does NOT do that. It instead takes an empathetic approach and gives bite size approaches and allows you to have kindness and patience with yourself when dealing with life. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The book's straightforward, no-nonsense approach to managing the most pernicious symptoms of depression holds a lot of promise, but the execution falls far short of the concept's potential.

The book is divided into many short chapters that include a piece of advice, a premise -- It's hard to X when you're depressed, depressed people act like X -- along with strategies to overcome the issue at hand, anecdotes about people in a similar position (the authors admin that many of these are composite stories, AKA fictions of the imagination), a script for how to let others know you've facing the problem, and sometimes an exercise or two.

While the concepts of many of these chapters are important, and there is wisdom to be had, readers have to wade through a lot of nonsense to unearth these nuggets.

For example, the authors' strategies and tips are based on an imaginary straw man-everyman with depression, a person who is so emotionally stunted and terrible to be around that the authors felt the need to include the phrases "You can be depressed AND be nice" and "You can be depressed AND think of others" (emphasis mine) in the book. Whaaaat!?

All in all, perhaps appropriate for a teen or tween dealing with depression (the only audience I can imagine acting like the authors imagine their readers to act) or a skim in the bookstore.

Solid and straightforward advice, however most of the content is covered the moment you read the 50 chapter titles. Very few sections need expansion and mostly chapters primarily consist of illustrative stories.

As someone who's had persistent depression for 35+ years, I've read many books on mental health, but never one like this. This book isn't necessarily trying to cure your depression, but how to function with it. Those with depression tend to have brain fog, zero desire to work, and generally paralyzed in life. But guess what? You still have to go to work, cook dinner, attend school, etc., and that's where this book comes in. There are 50 sections with different scenarios & strategies to get your stuff done, despite the depression. Each section includes info on dealing with social media, real life stories, and scripts you can use with others if you experience this particular issue (because we don't really know what to say to others--refer back to the brain fog).
The thing I appreciated the most was how respectful the writing is. Yeah, you have depression, but you are still worthwhile. You can still do things. You aren't broken. The validation was just wonderful.
I think this book could be good for others as well--people with anxiety, ADHD, even those on the autism spectrum. Everyone could benefit from routine, structure, systems, which are all put forth in this book.
Well done!

I have taken my time reading this, taking notes when something strikes me as useful in my counseling practice or private life. I notice myself using some of the strategies on a daily basis to self motivate and help those around me do the same. I do wish this book had more from someone who is clinically licensed to treat mental illness. Further, it should be made clear that this book is strictly “self help” and these strategies could not be used by someone wanting to fix a loved one with depression. That being said, I think it is incredibly refreshing to take advice from a “been-there-done-that” perspective. These strategies are well written, well thought out, and just make sense!

This is a useful productivity book geared towards people with depression. During this pandemic, it feels like there’s more time to complete projects. But there’s this dull edge (depression) to this need to work on something. This book provided great tips.