Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by evavroslin
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
4.0
"The Noonday Demon" is a book that people who suffer from depression should consider reading. The author, Andrew Solomon, while not a psychologist/psychiatrist/medical professional has suffered from major depression for most of his life and he talks about his journey through the ups and downs. He includes interviews with other people who all fall on different places on the mental health spectrum. One of the things his book deals with that many others in the field don't is the link between depression and poverty, which I felt was important to include. The other good point about this book is that the author discusses the differences in how men and women suffer from depression, which was very illuminating for me as most books don't go into a detailed description of gender and depression.
Some readers who have a more acute/situational/mild depression will read the author's story and reflect that they do have a lot to be grateful for, because depression in its most extreme form can cause many things a person wouldn't expect, such as loss of a sense of humour or losing the ability to become happy at anything. The one drawback to this book for me was that it was a doorstopper and felt at times like a slog to get through, but there were useful nuggets sprinkled between each section.
Other sections include the history of depression and how mental illness was treated historically, depression from an evolutionary standpoint, the pharmaceutical aspects of drugs that are used to treat depression, and other treatments such as electroshock therapy, surgeries, and EMDR among other techniques. For those who prefer more scientific chapters, they will also benefit from this book.
It's a different kind of reading experience than the prescriptive "how to" books of which people who suffer from depression have read in the thousands. Rather than telling the reader "This is how to get over depression", it's unique to hear from the perspective of someone who has firsthand knowledge of depression rather than a mental health professional who, although they certainly do offer useful strategies and advice in their own texts and are basing this on years of experience with depressed people in the field, may be at a loss to convincingly take the reader's hand, squeeze it gently and say "I know your pain because I deal with it every single day, too."
While you won't get any coping mechanisms or strategies or points for moving forward, Andrew Solomon's books may help you understand more about your depression and if nothing else, give you the important perspective to show that you are definitely not alone with this disease, you should absolutely take it seriously and take steps to help yourself, and that if you're taking steps to help yourself, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.
Some readers who have a more acute/situational/mild depression will read the author's story and reflect that they do have a lot to be grateful for, because depression in its most extreme form can cause many things a person wouldn't expect, such as loss of a sense of humour or losing the ability to become happy at anything. The one drawback to this book for me was that it was a doorstopper and felt at times like a slog to get through, but there were useful nuggets sprinkled between each section.
Other sections include the history of depression and how mental illness was treated historically, depression from an evolutionary standpoint, the pharmaceutical aspects of drugs that are used to treat depression, and other treatments such as electroshock therapy, surgeries, and EMDR among other techniques. For those who prefer more scientific chapters, they will also benefit from this book.
It's a different kind of reading experience than the prescriptive "how to" books of which people who suffer from depression have read in the thousands. Rather than telling the reader "This is how to get over depression", it's unique to hear from the perspective of someone who has firsthand knowledge of depression rather than a mental health professional who, although they certainly do offer useful strategies and advice in their own texts and are basing this on years of experience with depressed people in the field, may be at a loss to convincingly take the reader's hand, squeeze it gently and say "I know your pain because I deal with it every single day, too."
While you won't get any coping mechanisms or strategies or points for moving forward, Andrew Solomon's books may help you understand more about your depression and if nothing else, give you the important perspective to show that you are definitely not alone with this disease, you should absolutely take it seriously and take steps to help yourself, and that if you're taking steps to help yourself, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.