This book is an honest exploration of the reasons why anxiety and depression are at such high levels in the modern world. Written not by a psychologist or sociologist, Johann Hari uses his journalistic training and passion for self-search to thoroughly interview and cite scientists and researchers across multiple disciplines of psycho/social/emotional knowledge.

The result are 9 reasons we are disconnected (which exacerbates anxiety + depression) and, more important, how to reconnect without relying on SSRI's and the western compulsion to label everything a disorder or disease.

An eye-opening read for anyone, but especially folks who have dealt with depression or anxiety. ( )

I was very skeptical about this book but it was recommended by someone whose opinion I respect so I read it. I think it is a fair analysis of important issues and brings some insights that are new to me and worth thinking about. I don't myself suffer from depression or (often) from anxiety but know people who do, and found useful ideas in this book.

I feared it would fall into one of two camps: either the "big medicine is a scam and I have the cure" camp or the "here's a tiny preliminary bit of research that's going to change the world" camp. Instead the author pulled together several lines of thought, giving full citations to the research papers for each, and proposed some helpful steps toward making changes in one's own life and society. ( )

I realized how controversial this book was as soon as I started talking about it to people in my life who have been diagnosed with depression. Challenging the strictly pharmaceutical approach to addressing depression is no small thing, and when I factor in that I’ve never been treated for depression, I feel...maybe not like the ideal person to sing the praises of this book or the ideas therein.
But since the ideas make a lot of sense to me, I’m going to sing a few praises and also note that the author speaks from the experience of someone who spent 15 years on antidepressants and was very hesitant to look for other answers to his problem.
The heart of this book can be summed up by this quote near the end.

You are not suffering from a chemical imbalance in your brain. You are suffering from a social and spiritual imbalance in how we live. Much more than you’ve been told up to now, it’s not serotonin; it’s society. It’s not your brain; it’s your pain. Your biology can make your stress worse, for sure. But it’s not the cause.

Half the book covers his search and discoveries of other possible causes of depression, and the last half consists of proposed solutions to each. While the first half made perfect sense to me, it was hard not to get discouraged by the solutions presented in the second half, some of which require huge societal and political shifts. I believe big changes can happen, and that a lot of what he talks about in the second half of the book needs to happen, but boy, it all sounds hard.
I believe the author recognizes this and tries to give the reader hope with the example of other major shifts that have made people’s lives better.
I’m not sure how to wrap things up except to say that the book offers great ideas, many of which will not be easily or quickly carried out.
There’s an extensive notes section at the end, and a lot of his references are from studies published in scholarly journals. I wish he’d provided a bibliography as well. There were lots of book recommendations within the notes, but a separate section listing his book references would have been great for a lazy person who didn’t jot them down when she should have.
Interesting side note: I’m taking a class on research and assessment that I’m having a very hard time applying to my professional life, but it has given me a good basis to understand his terminology when referring to the different research studies he used as source material. I guess the crazy amount of money going into grad school this semester is good for something. ( )

Johann Hari takes a stand against the commonly held belief that anxiety and depression are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Instead, he cites studies that have shown the causes to be cultural, environmental, and sociological. He recommends fixing the sources of depression through reconnecting with people, values, meaningful work, the natural world, a hopeful future, and respect/status. He contends we have lost these important forms of connection in our modern individualistic society.

This is a book of “big audacious claims;” however, I did not find it particularly innovative. Many others have pointed to people struggling with grief, poverty, and childhood traumas as being candidates to develop depression. Avoiding overreliance on social media, digital devices, and advertising are also fairly commonly espoused solutions, as is the value of mindfulness and talk therapy.

I enjoyed the success stories where people have connected with each other. These are uplifting and heartwarming stories of community activism, gardening groups, a small business collective, and several others. But these are anecdotes not proofs. Hari is a journalist, not a scientist. I would have appreciated more quotes containing evidence from the footnoted sources. Hari’s social solutions are oriented toward cultural changes that, as he admits, would be difficult to agree upon, fund, and implement.

In summary, this is not the scientific book that I thought it was when I picked it up. This is a topic of interest to me, and I have read many books with different approaches. In my opinion, the field is not as clear-cut as Hari paints it in this book. I recommend reading widely and consulting qualified professionals before making any health-related decisions or discontinuing any prescribed medications.

2.5
( )

Overall an interesting book though I personally didn’t find any new ideas on depression and it’s causes. But it’s well written and worth a read. ( )