Recovery from Depression using the Narrative Approach: A Guide for Doctors, Complementary Therapists and Mental Health Professionals By Damien Ridge. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2008. £18.99 (pb). 208pp. ISBN: 9781843105756

This book presents a piece of narrative research into patients' experiences of depression, recovery and treatments. Ridge carried out in-depth, open-ended interviews on 38 people with a history of depression; he argues that a qualitative approach is the best way to capture the ‘real world’ complexity of people's experiences. He draws out a number of themes, which are abundantly illustrated with extended quotes from patients. He hopes that insight into their ‘interior experience’ will help health professionals support patients in their recovery.

At its best, this book vividly shows off what qualitative research can capture. The most illuminating theme was the portrayal of the experience of depression. Because the aim of the interviews was to elicit patients' viewpoints without interruption from any therapeutic intervention, Ridge accesses material that psychiatrists are perhaps unlikely to hear. He argues that allowing patients to tell their ‘recovery narratives’ is somehow helpful in itself, although he does not present any quantitative evidence for this.

It was interesting to see how patients perceive psychiatrists, though it did not always make for comfortable reading. For example, ‘[Doctors] go there for six months on rotation and it's like bloody crop rotation’.

It took me a while to get into the recovery perspective that this book takes, and I related to ‘Belinda’ who captured something of my difficulties: ‘But I hadn't actually realised I'd been in recovery. I had to go to a recovery conference to kind of realise I was in recovery [laughs]’. For example, Ridge presents the recognition of relapse signatures and the importance of relapse prevention as novel recovery approaches, whereas psychiatrists might regard this as everyday practice.

There is little reference to where patient views are concordant with the psychiatry literature – this might infuriate some psychiatrist readers. Despite this reservation, the book did improve my insight into the patient perspective. I imagine it would appeal to psychiatrists already interested in recovery, but some readers may find its context too specific to draw them in.