Spirit Rising: My Winding, Tumultuous Odyssey with Depression

Spirit Rising, My Winding, Tumultuous Odyssey with Depression, a memoir by Cindy Hoard blends with self-help, lived experience, treatments of depression, and the evolution of her personal spiritual life. Her profession as a well-known psychologist; and her personal insight and practices dramatically impact her rollercoaster ride.
Spirit Rising lets you travel with her managing ongoing challenges including earning her doctoral degree, treatment for endometriosis, breast cancer, and caregiving of her elderly parents, with the ever-present undertow of treatment-resistant depression.
Follow her inspirational saga as she expands her knowledge and her daily survival practices, with continuing moments of intermittent hope.
Every reader will take away different insights, combined with benefits for patients, family members, physicians, friends, professional therapists, spiritual directors, professors and anyone curious about the multiple issues, insights, and approaches to the odyssey of treatment-resistant depression.
Topics include:
Incorporation of medications
Talk therapies
Electric Convulsive Treatment (ECT)
Deep Brain Stimulation
Alternative approaches: acupuncture/acupressure, Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine
Steps toward optimal self-care
Appreciation and contributions of creativity/arts to wholeness
Meditation, Mindfulness & Contemplation
Ultimate importance of Self-Compassion
This broad range of topics will allow you to reflect upon, explore, and ask
questions of yourself, professionals, family and friends
Or…simply enjoy, the heart-warming, informative account of personal,
professional, and spiritual growth

Cindy Hoard is a student and patient of treatment-resistant depression. She has undergone a wide range of treatments, therapies andactivities to help herself over many years. As a consumer of many sources of information, research and modalities she has been an active participant in her own care. Over 40 years she documented her journey, expressed her reactions to lived experiences and kept a history of her progress in journals.Dr. Cindy is a retired child psychologist and former special education teacher who has worked primarily with children birth to age six and their families in a variety of settings and cultures. She has worked with Head Start and Early Intervention Programs for over 20 years, truly her passion. She has had an amazing variety of experiences and has continued to learn from the children and families she has served.A vital element of this odyssey has been the evolution, rollercoaster and maturation of the Spiritual dimension of her life. Dr. Cindy integrates aspects of formal religion, world religions, meditation, and mindfulness as integral to all facets of her life. Daily practices are essential to the maintenance of her calm and peacefulness.Cindy enjoys a variety of creative projects such as quilts, cooking, needlework, making cards with dried flowers and multimedia pieces of art. She enjoys music, singing and playing the flute and loves personal retreats in rich natural settings.