'Since the existence of humanity, abnormal behaviors have been present in individuals,'' Jesse M. Cooper states in the introduction to his study of the different types of psychological treatments available to depressed patients. In a formal, systematic analysis, Cooper presents a series of studies, outcomes, and conclusions, combining the psychologists comments and his own commentary to take the results to a different level and apply them to other situations.

In combination with these studies, the author supplies statistics and history related to the study of depression and other mental disorders and the causes and symptoms involved. For those unfamiliar with them, terms are clearly defined in a glossary in the back of the book. Cooper's Depression: How Psychology and Other Treatments Help People Recover, as an informative introduction to the treatment of depression, provides a wealth of factual data and remarks that may help us understand this complicated subject.