The Infinite Mind: "Against Depression"

A decade ago, with his breakaway bestseller, Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now he returns with a profound and original look at the condition those medications treat: depression. He asks: If we could eradicate depression so that no human being ever suffered it again, would we?

Against Depression is a groundbreaking assessment of the science of mood disorder—a field that has taken leaps forward in the past decade. Walking the reader through the full range of new research, Kramer shows how depression endangers nerve cells, disrupts brain functioning, damages the heart and the blood vessels, alters personal perspective and judgment, and interferes with parenting and family life. As the evidence mounts, there is no denying the obvious—that depression now qualifies fully as a disease, one of the most devastating known to humankind. And yet, says Kramer, we do not approach depression as a disease, not in our daily thinking.

Depression, linked in our culture to a long tradition of “heroic melancholy,” is often understood as ennobling—a source of creativity, integrity, insight, and even sensuality. Tracing these beliefs from Aristotle to the Romantics to Picasso, and to present-day memoirs of mood disorder, Kramer suggests that the pervasiveness of the illness has distorted our impression of what it is to be human. He shows how a head-on look at depression as we now know it will change our sense of self, our tastes in art and in love, and our account of what it is to live a good life.

Frank and unflinching, Against Depression is a deeply felt, deeply moving book, grounded in time spent with the depressed. As his argument unfolds, Kramer becomes a crusader, the author of a compassionate polemic that is fiercely against depression and the devastation it causes. Listening to Prozac stimulated a discussion that swept the nation and the world. Against Depression is equally original, and equally timely. Thought-provoking, challenging, enlightening, it will bring about a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and give hope to the millions who suffer from it.

CRITICAL PRAISE:

"Here one of our most thoughtful psychiatrists attends a wide-spread psychological malady - the bouts of melancholy that afflict so many individuals, laying them low in mind and spirit. This book offers much critical wisdom, even as it is written with a grace and sensitivity that will endear its words to the reader." - Robert Coles, Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities, Harvard Medical School

In "Against Depression", Peter Kramer opens our eyes once again to a fresh, important and humane understanding of the human condition. His bold rethinking of the condition we call 'depression' gives us a clear-eyed scenario for freedom from the grip of this soul-searing disorder." - Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

"Our treasured sense of self is often challenged by neuroscience - how do you wedge 'Self' in among neurons and synapses and neurotransmitters? No one has written about these issues in a more sensitive, thought-provoking and accessible way, and has touched more people in the process, than Peter Kramer." - Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

"There is nothing romantic in the suffering of depression. Kramer shows us the horrific reality of the illness, dispelling myths that pervade popular culture. This book should usher in an era when the disordered chemistry of the brain is viewed with the same concern and care that mark the treatment of any malady." - Jerome Groopman, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School