Self-help resources for depression are widely available in bookshops and via the internet. They are increasingly being recommended for use by healthcare practitioners as part of a stepped care treatment package (Bower & Gilbody, 2005). Such materials provide key information and key skills to help readers tackle mild-to-moderate depression (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2004). The recent review of self-help by the National Institute for Mental Health in England confirmed that it is cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) self-help that has an evidence base rather than self-help per se (Lewis et al, 2003).