A sweeping new theory about depression argues that effective treatments have been limited by a misperception that the disorder occurs because of psychological or chemical defects, posing the theory that depression is actually caused by severe, evolutionary-based expressions of natural emotions that can be better addressed through alternate treatments. "Why are we losing the fight against depression? In this groundbreaking work, psychologist Jonathan...

"Understanding Depression explores the reality of the illness from the authors twin perspectives as a psychiatrist and as a family member who experienced the tragedy of depression firsthand. Using examples from her practice, she discusses the different type of depression, the kinds of people at risk, and the risk factors of suicide. Using understandable terms, she looks at the way the brain works, how the body communicates with it, and how in depression,...

The book Suffering the Slings and Arrows Of Outrageous Fortune: International Perspectives on Stress, Laughter and Depression highlights topics covered at an inaugural inter-disciplinary conference Making Sense of Stress Humour and Healing held in Budapest in May 2005. The chapters provide a truly international and inter-disciplinary perspective on the subject. Contributors to this volume come not only from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds...

"In this provocative book, Edward Shorter describes how in the 19th century patients with anxiety, fatigue and unable to sleep and obsess about the whole thing were considered "nervous," and when they lost control it was a "nervous breakdown." Then psychiatry turned its back on the whole concept of nerves, and--first under the influence of Freud's psychoanalysis and then the influence of the pharmaceutical industry--the diagnosis of depression took...