Synopses & Reviews
A decade ago, with his breakaway bestseller
Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now, he returns with a profound and original look at the condition those medications treat depression. He asks: If we could eradicate depression, so that no human being ever suffered it again, would we hesitate? Kramer knows the answer we're most likely to give is yes. But should it be?
Depression, linked in our culture to a long tradition of heroic melancholy, is often understood as ennobling a source of soulfulness and creativity. Kramer traces this belief from Aristotle to the Romantics to Picasso and present-day memoirs of mood disorder and suggests that the persistence and prevalence of this hard-to-treat illness have distorted our sense of what it is to be human. There is nothing heroic about depression, Kramer argues and in his signature thought-provoking way, he walks the reader through the latest research and explores how recent findings might affect our tastes, our values and our sense of self.
Frank and unflinching, About Depression is a deeply felt, deeply moving book, grounded in time spent with the depressed. As his argument unfolds, Kramer becomes a crusader the author of a compassionate polemic that is fiercely against what depression really is a disease capable of devastating life. Like Listening to Prozac, Against Depression will offer hope to millions who suffer from depression and profoundly affect the debate on its treatment.
Review
"While not predicting that depression will be eliminated anytime soon, Kramer brings hope to those afflicted by it. A clear, valuable exposition of the progress researchers are making in understanding an all-too-common disease." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A]n excellent summary of current biochemical theories of depression. Highly recommended." Library Journal
Review
"There is more breadth of evidence than innovative thinking in Against Depression. Nonetheless, this book successfully advances the cartography of a (quite literally) gray area between physical and mental illness." Janet Maslin, the New York Times
Review
"Against Depression is partly a critique of the West's propensity for romanticizing depression, partly a survey of the latest research on the illness and its possible causes and cures, and partly a meditation on what our culture would look like if we stopped equating depression with refinement, profundity, insight and intelligence....In some ways Kramer, a subtle and perceptive observer, is the ideal person to consider the many facets of our infatuation with depression. However, his looping and elliptical prose style can make his arguments hard to follow, and sometimes he misses the obvious." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)
Synopsis
In his landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now Kramer offers a frank and unflinching look at the condition those medications treat: depression. Definitively refuting our notions of "heroic melancholy," he walks readers through groundbreaking new research—studies that confirm depression's status as a devastating disease and suggest pathways toward resilience. Thought-provoking and enlightening, Against Depression provides a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and promises hope to the millions who suffer from it.
Synopsis
A revolutionary exploration of mood disorder by the author of the landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac.
About the Author
Peter D. Kramer, M.D., recently named host of the national, weekly public radio series,
The Infinite Mind, is "possibly the best-known psychiatrist in America," as
The New York Times put it. Peter Kramer received his M.D. from Harvard and is the best-selling author of
Listening to Prozac,
Should You Leave?,
Spectacular Happiness, and
Moments of Engagement. His latest book,
Against Depression, will be published in May 2005.
In 2004, two programs of The Infinite Mind hosted by Kramer won top media awards: a Gracie Allen Award from the American Women in Radio and Television for an examination of "Domestic Violence" and a National Mental Health Association Media Award for “Between Two Worlds: Mental Health for Immigrants. Kramer has written for The New York Times Magazine and The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book Review, The Washington Post, the (London) Times Literary Supplement and U.S. News and World Report, among other publications. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, and has a private practice.
Visit Dr. Peter D. Kramer on the web: http://www.peterdkramer.com
The Infinite Mind: http://www.theinfinitemind.com/
Table of Contents
Prologue
What It Is to Us
1. The Final Memoir
2. Return
3. What If
4. Ambivalence
5. Altogether
6. Charm
7. More Charm
8. Eros
9. Obvious Confusion: Three Vignettes
What It Is
10. Altogether Again
11. Getting There
12. Magnitude
13. Extent
14. Convergence
15. Resilience
16. Here and Now
What It Will Be
17. The End of Melancholy
18. Art
19. The Natural
20. Alienation
21. After Depression
Notes
Index