Michael Sclater’s book, Love: A Psychologist Explains How to Cure Yourself of Depression, launched in January 2021 and I’m delighted to have played a part in bringing this valuable book to life.

 

I caught up with Michael a couple of weeks after the book was published to ask him a few questions about self-publishing, his writing aspirations, and what made him take that leap into sharing his book with the world. Here’s what he had to say:

 

Congratulations, Michael! Your book is now available on the Amazon bookstore. How did you feel when you saw it for the first time?

 

Thrilled by the quality of Michelle’s work.  Relief at the conclusion of a project to try to make some sense of mental health treatment that has taken me about 30 years. Pleased that I have laid out a framework for a new understanding and treatment for depression. Concern about whether anyone will take any notice.

 

 

Have you always wanted to become an author?

 

Interesting question. I wrote the school play on my own initiative at the age of 12.  But then I thought that writing could only be for people who come from literary or at least cultured backgrounds. So it took me about 60 years to get back there.

 

 

Really? That’s wonderful. What made you take that leap and publish your book?

 

Working for the NHS as a psychotherapist led me to the view that the enormous sums spent on mental health achieve little and not infrequently nothing. Claims for evidence of success are highly questionable. I found that some of my clients, and some of my colleagues’ clients, did recover from depression. But I wasn’t really sure why. I wasn’t convinced that my skills, techniques and insights gained through a very long training at one of the leading training institutions in London, were the true factors in their recovery. So it began to dawn on me that the whole established approach to curing depression, by medication or counselling/therapy, might be basically wrong or at least very incomplete.

I eventually came to the view that the big factor in recovery from depression is love. This is not a sentimental kind of love but love in the sense of accepting and enjoying relating with everyone and everything. This requires decision, skills and action. It’s what people need to recover (or discover) when they fall into depression. So I’ve written the book with the hope of helping individuals and bringing about effective treatment.

 

 

A very worthwhile reason. I’m sure it will be a real help to your readers. I certainly gained some refreshing new insights into depression while working on it. Have you any more book plans in the pipeline?

 

I’ve got a book about reinventing the intellectual foundations of business that I wrote in 1979 – at least 20 years ahead of its time.   Some minor changes to publish it now.   Not sure after that.

 

Do you have any advice for other aspiring authors thinking about self-publishing their books?

Do it for you.   Don’t expect recognition or money.

 

Thanks very much, Michael! Very best of luck with your book!

 

 

 

Buy Love here – available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon:

 

 

 

 

Love to see your book on the Amazon shelves? Contact me today to find out how I can help make this a reality in just 4 weeks.