Dorothy Rowe (1930–2019,) née Conn, was an Australian-British clinical psychologist specializing in depression. She is best known for advocating the principle of listening to a patient in mental illness matters rather than merely seeing them as problems to be solved.
Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Rowe attended Sydney University, obtaining a degree in psychology and a diploma of education. After a divorce, she moved to England in 1968 and got a PhD from Sheffield University. She established the Lincolnshire Health Authority department of clinical psychology and later worked for the National Health Service (NHS.) She also held visiting professor posts at Middlesex, London Metropolitan, Sunderland universities, and semi-retired in Sydney, Australia, in 2015.
As a clinical psychologist, Rowe working with depressed patients and, through listening to their stories, rejected the medical model of mental illness instead of working within personal construct theory. She argued that depression was a defense against change—an emotional paralysis that afflicts us when we cannot adapt.
A famous self-help author, Rowe wrote a dozen books describing the obstacles that hold people back. Her books include The Successful Self (1993,) Dorothy Rowe’s Guide to Life (1996,) Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison (2003,) Beyond Fear (2007,) and Why We Lie: The Source of Our Disasters (2010.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Dorothy Rowe
If you make happiness your goal, then you’re not going to get to it. Philosophers have been saying it for thousands of years. The goal should be an interesting life.
—Dorothy Rowe
The problem with growing up fearing and expecting rejection is that you cannot enter into adult relationship in the expectation of happiness.
—Dorothy Rowe
Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer.
—Dorothy Rowe
Topics: Depression
When we are depressed, being reminded of other people’s suffering only serves to increase our self-hatred.
—Dorothy Rowe
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