PRNewswire - Families for Depression Awareness, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families recognize and cope with depressive disorders, has released its Depression Wellness Guide for adults, following an extensive pilot study. This is a simple, practical tool that helps adults with depression monitor treatment in conjunction with their clinician, family, and friends. The educational booklet consists of daily tools, including diaries and worksheets, to track symptom progress.

The Wellness Guide grew out of a pilot study begun in October 2005. The Guide provides a three-step approach to monitoring treatment:

• Define Wellness: A Wellness Worksheet helps define what is well and not well, treatment goals, and signs and life events that families can identify for when depression gets worse.
• Record Daily: In the monitoring diary, mood, medications, wellness and other items can be recorded.
• Keep a Journal: This helps those affected gain insight into their thoughts and feelings.

The Depression Wellness Guide is available as a free electronic download from www.familyaware.org/.

Healthcare is one of the most crucial purchases a person can make. It is also one of the most difficult. Many people have bad or unsatisfying experiences with their healthcare professionals because they don't always have the time to seek enough recommendations and feedback from their friends and family.

Vimo is the nation's first FREE integrated comparison-shopping portal for healthcare products and services. The website enables businesses and consumers to research, rate, and purchase health insurance plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). You can even choose and read reviews of doctors from across the country.

Vimo provides a mix of a variety of private and public data that assists shoppers in finding a physician and comparing hospital prices for medical procedures. Vimo also recently introduced a personalization service, MyVimo. This service automatically updates users on any changes in the status of their favorite doctors. This includes anything from new reviews to licenses to malpractice or disciplinary actions. Another advantage offered to MyVimo users is that they can avoid the hassle of having to browse through dozens of insurance website listings. Instead, they can look up health insurance a given doctor accepts directly through their account. For more information, visit www.vimo.com.

Studies show that alternative medicine is the fastest growing area in healthcare today. This is why the world-renowned professor and doctor, Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby, launched the "Wholesome Living Letter," a newsletter that unlocks an encyclopedia of knowledge about alternative medicines and therapies.

"Knowledge is one of the most valuable commodities in the world right now. But there is so much propaganda and disinformation in the healing market that you hardly know what's right and what's wrong. Self-styled experts and gurus are springing up all over the place, proclaiming their medical skills and 'visions.' It's a quick path to a fast dollar - or millions of dollars for some," stated Dr. Scott-Mumby.

Dr. Scott-Mumby has been studying and practicing alternative medicine for 36 years and is the author of several books including "The Food Allergy Plan," "Allergies: What Everyone Should Know," and "Virtual Medicine." For more information, visit www.wholesomelivingletter.com.

Years of research culminate in "The Bird Flu Manual," Dr. Grattan Woodson's comprehensive guide to surviving an influenza pandemic predicted to affect 100 million Americans in the near future. Since 1997, Grattan Woodson, MD FACP, has studied cases of avian influenza, more commonly known as "bird flu," in order to provide Americans with a common sense plan based on simple medical practice for handling this disease should it reach proportions predicted by the U.S. government.

Woodson's manual equips citizens for the worst, including knowledge of how to treat seriously ill family members and friends at home should hospitals become flooded with affected patients. Woodson's reasons for fearing a pandemic are supported by scientific as well as government studies, and by Woodson's own investigation into past influenza pandemic including the severe 1918 Spanish Flu.

"The Bird Flu Manual" offers an alternative to fear, enabling control on an individual basis of what might otherwise become an unrestrained killer. For more information, visit www.birdflumanual.com.