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dgsimonds 's review for:
Lost Connections: Why You're Depressed and How to Find Hope
by Johann Hari
There isn't necessarily anything revelatory about the realizations laid out in this book, but it does a nice job of gathering many of less popular pathologies about depression into one place, and giving moving examples along with them. While I'm not sure I agree with all the specific policy changes that Hari gives, I understand and appreciate the need to give something concrete to leave the reader with. I also could have gone without the lengthy section on explaining why anti-depressants aren't little miracle pills, I feel like a lot of people already are figuring that out, but, again it served his point of looking for other sources to deal with depression and anxiety.
The main take-aways I had after this book are that depression is a legitimate response to the world in which we live, and the circumstances so many people find themselves in, not an abnormality; pain needs to be experienced and followed through on to figure out what is causing it; we need the safety to put down the walls that have protected our growing egos when they begin to restrict rather than protect; the idea of community as your home has been replaced with material home comfort (think of all the home design shows), and stuff, and in essence left most of the western world homeless. In this same breath, relationships with people and nature has been replaced with things and status, and only by bringing people together who refuse the junk advertising narratives and find a bond bigger than themselves can that be combatted to the point where it loses much of it's affect.
The book definitely serves as a springboard for meditating on your life, and in that way I would certainly recommend it.
The main take-aways I had after this book are that depression is a legitimate response to the world in which we live, and the circumstances so many people find themselves in, not an abnormality; pain needs to be experienced and followed through on to figure out what is causing it; we need the safety to put down the walls that have protected our growing egos when they begin to restrict rather than protect; the idea of community as your home has been replaced with material home comfort (think of all the home design shows), and stuff, and in essence left most of the western world homeless. In this same breath, relationships with people and nature has been replaced with things and status, and only by bringing people together who refuse the junk advertising narratives and find a bond bigger than themselves can that be combatted to the point where it loses much of it's affect.
The book definitely serves as a springboard for meditating on your life, and in that way I would certainly recommend it.