Why don’t more depressed people write about getting happy?

Yesterday’s post about books that have helped me feel better got me thinking about why there aren’t more books by people who’ve transformed their depression into happiness. In fact, counting them up on my fingers there are exactly…none. Actually that's not completely true. On the Edge of Darkness edited by Kathy Cronkite has at least one story of someone who found happiness. But as someone with a long and serious history of depression who is now happy for most hours of most days I find the lack of such books amazing. Why are the shelves not full of them?

It’s not as if there are not a lot of effective therapies about. Cognitive, behavioural, TLC (that’s therapeutic lifestyle changes for the uninitiated), ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy), omega 3 fatty acids, interpersonal therapy, exercise (both aerobic and anaerobic), bright light, positive psychology…there are more effective therapies for depression than you can shake a stick at. So where are all the books by people who have found happiness as a result of doing these therapies? This is a message that people suffering from depression desperately need to hear – that it is possible to be happy if you do proven effective things. That's my experience anyway.