The noonday demon
Subtitle: an atlas of depression
By: Andrew Solomon
Edition: Scribner trade paperback edition.
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 676
ISBN-13: 9781501123887
Subjects: Mental Depression; Case studies; Depressed persons
Description: The author offers a look at depression in which he draws on his own battle with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, researchers, doctors, and others to assess the complexities of the disease, its causes and symptoms, and available therapies.  This book examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations, around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. He takes readers on a journey into the most pervasive of family secrets and contributes to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition.
Notes: "Now with a new chapter"--page [1] of cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 593-644) and index.

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2001.
Table of contents: title: Depression; title: Breakdowns; title: Treatments; title: Alternatives; title: Populations; title: Addiction; title: Suicide; title: History; title: Poverty; title: Politics; title: Evolution; title: Hope; title: Since.