Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Post contains affiliate links; opinions shared are mine.

Depression touches most people’s lives in some way – whether it’s personal pain or an extension from a friend/family member.  Dr. Michelle Bengston shares her own experience in this straight-forward book about healing the depression that can plague the sufferer.  Hope Prevails contains helpful, applicable advice from someone who’s been there.

Dr. Bengtson candidly shares her own battle with depression, and explains how she found her own peace.  She related much of her struggle to a form of spiritual warfare, in which “the enemy” lies and deceives in order to steal a believer’s joy.  This description made so much sense to me.  Recently my husband mentioned that I often say “I feel guilty because….”   Honestly, I never realized that I said that specific phrase out loud to him.  It made me consider how my own feelings are vulnerable to Satan’s lies, and helped me to identify areas where I need to increase my prayer requests.   Hope Prevails is quite attuned to biblical correlations. Scripture accompanies most of Dr. Bengtson’s commentary.

In some ways, I think that Hope Prevails would be easier to read if the Rx sections were presented at the beginning of each chapter.  Having a plan of action might help a reader more than reading about someone else’s viewpoint.

About the book:

As a board-certified neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson believed she was prescribing the most effective treatments for her clients who struggled with depression. But when she experienced debilitating depression herself, she found that the treatments she had recommended weren’t helping her the way she expected. She was determined to find out what was missing.

With the deep compassion of someone who has been there, Dr. Bengtson blends her training and that vital missing piece she discovered to offer you a hope grounded in God’s love and grace. She helps you understand what depression is, how it affects you spiritually, and what, by God’s grace, depression cannot do. The result is an approach that offers not just the management of symptoms but the hope of true release.