Reviews

Against Depression by Peter D. Kramer

crowyhead's review

5.0

This is a magnificent book, definitely required reading for those who have suffered from major depression or anyone who has ever been close to a depressive. Kramer (the author of the also-excellent Listening to Prozac) makes it clear from the start that he believes that depression is an insidious disease that does not deserve the romanticization that has long surrounded it. He compares depression and the culture of melancholy to the way people used to romanticize tuberculosis, which used to be seen as a romantic disease that indicated refinement and tragic beauty. He offers up a lot of evidence to back up his beliefs, both from his own practice and from scientific studies that illustrate the physical effects (and possible causes) of depression. Even so, he is not unsympathetic to the impulses that lead us to romanticize depression and feel uncomfortable about the idea of eradicating it completely, and this book never edges into polemic. Reading it is sort of like having a series of dinner table talks with a very intelligent friend.

nordstina's review against another edition

2.0

Meh. Not much I didn't already know, and not a super engaging read.