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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
His answers are too simple and not unexpected but seemed rather...condecsending? Meh.
This is a life-changing book for me. Not because I'm depressed--or no more so than other humans, and I'm happier than many--but because I am suffering in the way that I think most people are now, from the disconnected way that we live our modern lives. Hari has provided a framework for many separate things that I have learned throughout my life, but now I see how it all connects. I'll revise this review later when I have more time to think about it, but for now I'll just say, I have so many things I want to investigate and so many changes I want to make in my own life as a result of reading this book. Highly recommend! Seriously, read it!
informative
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
As someone who has believed and preached for years that depression is caused by low serotonin, this book completely blew me away by not only refuting that so completely (with pages of research articles) but by showing the harm that belief is actually doing to millions. Depression does have some biological causes (manic and bipolar forms), but this book examines the social and psychological causes of depression. It presents studies, experiments, and philosophies behind how to heal the person through healing society. Maybe I am just a geek for health psychology, but I loved this book from start to finish! My mind is completely blown—I took copious notes and read pages and pages out loud to my husband. If you have ever dealt with depression either in yourself or your loved ones, this book will impact you and has the research to affirm everything it asserts.
I’m giving this five stars because it made me think a lot and resonated deeply with me and because I really want everyone to read it and then I want to talk with you about it. He articulates things I’ve felt and thought but didn’t have a lot of evidence beyond my own experience and observations to back up. But he’s looked closely at the evidence and summarized it in a very readable way. I have a couple of quibbles - like I don’t think one should write a book about our deep disconnection from one another and misaligned values at this moment in history without a single mention of climate change. And the author universally equates thin with healthy and fat with unhealthy several times in the book, which is inaccurate and harmful. But overall, this is a book that I strongly feel needs to be read because it is raising really vital points that I don’t think are being discussed enough. Please read this book and then talk to me about it.
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
So I just finished this book today.
I heavily appreciate that there is research and facts implemented through out this book that make me think of how we can actually solve the issues of depression and anxiety. And surprise: it’s not just about taking antidepressants and going to therapy. Johann Hari points out the flaws of medications and the advertising that goes into it for us to believe the idea of medications to save our lives. He also mentions that we simply are disconnected in a variety of ways because society seems as a reasonable thing to be. I believe we should see it, as he says towards the end of the book: “Depression and anxiety might, in one way, be the sanest reaction you have. It’s a signal, saying-you shouldn’t have to live this way, and if you aren’t helped to find a better path, you will be missing out on so much that is best about being human” (Hari, p. 325).
If anyone else struggles like me with depression and anxiety, I highly recommend this book. The research isn’t all technical jabber that makes anyone avoid research, but put in a language easy for us to understand the point and purpose of said research.
I heavily appreciate that there is research and facts implemented through out this book that make me think of how we can actually solve the issues of depression and anxiety. And surprise: it’s not just about taking antidepressants and going to therapy. Johann Hari points out the flaws of medications and the advertising that goes into it for us to believe the idea of medications to save our lives. He also mentions that we simply are disconnected in a variety of ways because society seems as a reasonable thing to be. I believe we should see it, as he says towards the end of the book: “Depression and anxiety might, in one way, be the sanest reaction you have. It’s a signal, saying-you shouldn’t have to live this way, and if you aren’t helped to find a better path, you will be missing out on so much that is best about being human” (Hari, p. 325).
If anyone else struggles like me with depression and anxiety, I highly recommend this book. The research isn’t all technical jabber that makes anyone avoid research, but put in a language easy for us to understand the point and purpose of said research.