After the success of my first book "I shall wear purple," I was keen to do a series of books in the "I shall......." range. Looking at other psychological issues and helping people to overcome them. So this is my second book "I shall be blue" taking a look at depression, what it is and how to overcome it. From my experience when one is suffering with depression, there is very little empathy from the society, family members and friends. We often hear comments like "pull yourself together," "try and do something and you will feel better." In all fairness people just want the 'old you' back, they are trying to help, they don't know what to say to you to make you feel better., and they don't know how to make you better. These type of comments do not help, they just leave you feeling worse, they leave you feeling guilty for being unwell, ashamed that you are unable to function like you used to or like other people do. They leave you feeling 'bad' when you already feel 'bad'. Unless you have suffered with depression then you would not know just how extremely difficult it is. It is like being in a 'black hole' that you can not get out of, you are trying to claw your way out but each time you get near the top you fall back in again. It feels like your whole body is unable to function, it leaves you breathless and sad to the depths of despair. It is like walking through mud, or carrying around with you a ton of sand on your back when you try to do anything. It takes every inch of energy that you can muster to just get out of bed in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, you just want to go back to sleep again, to avoid that dull ache inside, as sleep is your only respite. So when people say to you things like "Pull yourself together" then this just makes you feel worse, Often what is needed is some kindness, some understanding and some nurturing particularly in the beginning, then some understanding of what is happening to you and why, then some useful guidance on how to overcome this awful illness. That is what I hope this book can offer you, tools to recover slowly but effectively. If this was a physical illness, then the patient would be nurtured, told to rest up given information about their illness and then various treatment options would be explored to find the right one for them, they would not be told "Pull yourself together." My motivation for writing this book is that we are living in an age where therapy is becoming more and more difficult to access, waiting lists are far too long and 'brief' therapy appears to be the answer to everyone's problems, I learned during my own therapeutic journey both as a client and as a therapist many tools that can help us to begin to learn more about ourselves and change the 'things' that are impacting on our lives in a negative way. Although this book is by no means a tool to replace therapy, nothing can beat the process of a good therapeutic relationship and the excellent work that therapists worldwide do. Nor is it a tool to replace medical intervention. It is a tool to start you on that journey, to give you an insight into different therapeutic models so that you can decide which therapeutic model feels the right one for you, (we are all different and what works for one, does not always work for another) and to give you an appreciation on what therapy is about, how it works and how it can change your life and the way that you function as a human being. This way you are in charge of your own treatment plan and can decide which treatment model will work best for you. I hope that this book offers you the above and more. If I am having a low day, then I give myself permission to be 'blue.' "I Shall be blue." To fight it makes it more difficult to recover. To accept it and accept that this is where you are and how you are feeling today, makes recovery much easier and faster.