Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
Well researched, well written. Cannot recommend this book enough if you or someone you are close has experience with depression and anxiety.
2.6 stars.
For the first 75-100 pages I was enjoying it; I basically buy the thesis that social factors and various things about modern society are implicated in anxiety and depression and that there's probably too much attention on addressing the symptoms of that with meds as opposed to the causes. And there were some interesting parts attempting to measure the bias in the literature on drug efficacy.
All that said, after a while the negatives started to weigh more heavily.
1. from page 250: "I wanted to understand the implications of this [guaranteed income reducing stress] more, and to explore my own concerns and questions about it, so I went to see a brilliant Dutch economic historian named Rutger Bregman. He is the leading European champion of the idea of a universal basic income. We ate burgers and inhaled caffeinated drinks and ended up talking late into the night, discussing the implications of all this. "
Oh sweet lord, do I have to read an anecdote about the 200th eminent scientist the author visited and chatted with, as opposed to just hearing the content? Really, almost that exact passage appears dozens of times, for different people. I don't want to read about his adventures talking late in the night while drinking coffee or diet coke. I don't want yet another anecdote about what caused scientist X to get interested in their field.
2. Really I don't want to hear a re-conceptualization of depression and anxiety from a journalist. On the other hand, this isn't really a re-conceptualization, the author's claims aside. He writes like nobody has ever heard of this stuff before, that no one thinks anything but medicine ever works, that nobody thinks there's any issue other than exogenous shortage of serotonin.
3. in probably 75% of the studies he cited, there were obvious correlation = causation errors. I'm not sure if the problems are in the research or in his description of them, or whether there was in some case any way to do the research that didn't suffer from those issues, but at an absolute minimum he should have mentioned those issues. he was all over methodology flaws in any study or meds and seemed quite accepting of flaws in other studies. it all made me wonder how much I should trust anything he said.
For the first 75-100 pages I was enjoying it; I basically buy the thesis that social factors and various things about modern society are implicated in anxiety and depression and that there's probably too much attention on addressing the symptoms of that with meds as opposed to the causes. And there were some interesting parts attempting to measure the bias in the literature on drug efficacy.
All that said, after a while the negatives started to weigh more heavily.
1. from page 250: "I wanted to understand the implications of this [guaranteed income reducing stress] more, and to explore my own concerns and questions about it, so I went to see a brilliant Dutch economic historian named Rutger Bregman. He is the leading European champion of the idea of a universal basic income. We ate burgers and inhaled caffeinated drinks and ended up talking late into the night, discussing the implications of all this. "
Oh sweet lord, do I have to read an anecdote about the 200th eminent scientist the author visited and chatted with, as opposed to just hearing the content? Really, almost that exact passage appears dozens of times, for different people. I don't want to read about his adventures talking late in the night while drinking coffee or diet coke. I don't want yet another anecdote about what caused scientist X to get interested in their field.
2. Really I don't want to hear a re-conceptualization of depression and anxiety from a journalist. On the other hand, this isn't really a re-conceptualization, the author's claims aside. He writes like nobody has ever heard of this stuff before, that no one thinks anything but medicine ever works, that nobody thinks there's any issue other than exogenous shortage of serotonin.
3. in probably 75% of the studies he cited, there were obvious correlation = causation errors. I'm not sure if the problems are in the research or in his description of them, or whether there was in some case any way to do the research that didn't suffer from those issues, but at an absolute minimum he should have mentioned those issues. he was all over methodology flaws in any study or meds and seemed quite accepting of flaws in other studies. it all made me wonder how much I should trust anything he said.
Overall - I think Johann Hari is an engaging and insightful author and he is making an important point with this book, and encouraging society to look at depression and anxiety through a different lens. I loved listening to him (I listened to this as an audiobook). The book highlighted the very important situational, social and environmental contributors to anxiety and depression, and very importantly outlined the ways in which pharmaceutical companies influence research.
However there were a few things i disliked about the book-
1. While antidepressants are not a “cure” for mental health disorders and are certainly not the be all and end all of treatment, they have an important role to play which I think is overlooked in this book, including that they can give unwell people the boost needed to participate in CBT or other therapies and address their social and environmental factors: they can be an important short term tool, rather than a long term solution
2. I think he overlooked a large contributor to anxiety/depression in that it is not just caused by situational factors, but also how people view their circumstances. Many people who have objectively loving and supportive networks and are financially stable still suffer significantly from anxiety and depression and this can be in a large part due to their perception of their life and circumstances. In these cases it is CBT or other psychological therapies that will help them, not purely a need to change their environment. I personally think this is as important as situational factors. Particularly towards the second half of the book, his analogies dragged on and ended with the same points that weren’t new or groundbreaking - for example that stable relationships and stable jobs and income protect against depression and loneliness increases the risk of depression.
3. He’s obviously a journalist (a great one) and not a psychiatrist or scientist, but he teeters into territory where it sounds like he is a scientific researcher but he discusses studies, quotes and the DSM in a loaded way that isn’t objective and doesn’t give the reader room to interpret them objectively. I don’t think the average reader would realize the significance of the fact that some studies aren’t statistically significant and therefore don’t really tell us anything and I don’t think should be quoted, or the intricacies of the DSM and the way in which it is used.
However there were a few things i disliked about the book-
1. While antidepressants are not a “cure” for mental health disorders and are certainly not the be all and end all of treatment, they have an important role to play which I think is overlooked in this book, including that they can give unwell people the boost needed to participate in CBT or other therapies and address their social and environmental factors: they can be an important short term tool, rather than a long term solution
2. I think he overlooked a large contributor to anxiety/depression in that it is not just caused by situational factors, but also how people view their circumstances. Many people who have objectively loving and supportive networks and are financially stable still suffer significantly from anxiety and depression and this can be in a large part due to their perception of their life and circumstances. In these cases it is CBT or other psychological therapies that will help them, not purely a need to change their environment. I personally think this is as important as situational factors. Particularly towards the second half of the book, his analogies dragged on and ended with the same points that weren’t new or groundbreaking - for example that stable relationships and stable jobs and income protect against depression and loneliness increases the risk of depression.
3. He’s obviously a journalist (a great one) and not a psychiatrist or scientist, but he teeters into territory where it sounds like he is a scientific researcher but he discusses studies, quotes and the DSM in a loaded way that isn’t objective and doesn’t give the reader room to interpret them objectively. I don’t think the average reader would realize the significance of the fact that some studies aren’t statistically significant and therefore don’t really tell us anything and I don’t think should be quoted, or the intricacies of the DSM and the way in which it is used.
“We grieve because we have loved. We grieve because the person we have lost mattered to us.”
I loved the sentiment of this book. I hope to reconnect with my community and to deepen my relationships with other people.
Very fascinating, I will be recommending it to friends.
I loved the sentiment of this book. I hope to reconnect with my community and to deepen my relationships with other people.
Very fascinating, I will be recommending it to friends.
It has been two months since I read the book, and I have been procrastinating on writing a review, especially in a second language online. The information I gained from the book has become blurred, making it difficult for me to recall the specific enlightenment I had. However, certain basic understandings and theories about depression from the book have become ingrained in me. One of them is that the positive study of antidepressant impacts has been heavily influenced and flawed by pharmaceutical companies. Another is how the author strongly emphasizes the positive correlation between depression and social connection, drawing references from occidental cultures with their tight-knit social networks and relatively low depression rates.
As a Taiwanese individual who is chronically socially awkward and experiences swings on the spectrum from mild to severe depression, I find some truths in the book's content. However, the book doesn't offer as many remedies as promised. As the author recounts,
"the tragedy is that many depressed and anxious people receive less love, as they become harder to be around. Indeed, they receive judgment and criticism, and this accelerates their retreat from the world. They snowball into an ever colder place."
With the author's increasing emphasis on being social in the final chapters, I couldn't help but wonder if shy people like myself are doomed. Additionally, the tightly-connected family ideal, common in Taiwanese society, doesn't necessarily lead to satisfied individuals, as mental health problems are often neglected or avoided in order to achieve societal homogeneity.
Despite these observations, the book is still worth reading for those seeking to understand depression and explore related topics. Ultimately, I agree with the author that societal and relational factors are responsible for the rise of depression in modern society. There are numerous stigmas and biases surrounding mental health issues, causing people who suffer to isolate themselves out of fear of added burdens.
"To tell people that the solution lies solely or primarily in tweaking their own lives would be a denial of so much of what I learned on this journey. Once you understand that depression is, to a significant degree, a collective problem caused by something that has gone wrong in our culture, it becomes obvious that the solutions have to be, to a significant degree, collective as well. We have to change the culture so that more people are freed up to change their lives."
As a Taiwanese individual who is chronically socially awkward and experiences swings on the spectrum from mild to severe depression, I find some truths in the book's content. However, the book doesn't offer as many remedies as promised. As the author recounts,
"the tragedy is that many depressed and anxious people receive less love, as they become harder to be around. Indeed, they receive judgment and criticism, and this accelerates their retreat from the world. They snowball into an ever colder place."
With the author's increasing emphasis on being social in the final chapters, I couldn't help but wonder if shy people like myself are doomed. Additionally, the tightly-connected family ideal, common in Taiwanese society, doesn't necessarily lead to satisfied individuals, as mental health problems are often neglected or avoided in order to achieve societal homogeneity.
Despite these observations, the book is still worth reading for those seeking to understand depression and explore related topics. Ultimately, I agree with the author that societal and relational factors are responsible for the rise of depression in modern society. There are numerous stigmas and biases surrounding mental health issues, causing people who suffer to isolate themselves out of fear of added burdens.
"To tell people that the solution lies solely or primarily in tweaking their own lives would be a denial of so much of what I learned on this journey. Once you understand that depression is, to a significant degree, a collective problem caused by something that has gone wrong in our culture, it becomes obvious that the solutions have to be, to a significant degree, collective as well. We have to change the culture so that more people are freed up to change their lives."
Some parts of this book really resonated with me, to the point where I had to put it down for a while because it was hitting too close to home. Other ideas spoken about were a bit out there, but all in all, the book was a great distillation of the research surrounding depression.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This is a must read for anyone who has struggled with anxiety or depression, and a must read for those in the helping profession. We are very familiar with the medical model of depression however Hari addresses how under-appreciated social and cultural factors are in the story of mental health. He incorporates a ton of interesting research with relatable personal and anecdotal examples.
Unexpectedly thought provoking on how depression is looked on by society and the medical community. Helpful information on where all his information came from was provided throughout and the information was provided in an easy to understand and not too scientific study format.
Slightly more revisionist, sociological, and political than I was anticipating, but interesting all the same. At times, very eye-opening; at times, very frustrating.