Depression

Beck struggles with depression throughout the entire book. His first major bout with depression was when he was a college student. There were many times that he was unhappy, but in his periods of depression, he sank so low mentally that he considered different ways of killing himself. He was anti-medication, yet didn't want his depression to effect him professionally. He would take on challenging tasks such as learning to sail or working overtime or exercising in the extreme to combat the depression. Beck found that mountaineering helped him fight off depression. He ran when the black dog, as he called a depression, was after him and moved from one goal to another, each one more risky than the last.

At one point he blamed his wife for his depression, but later realized that the problem lay within himself. He went for professional help in dealing with the...