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    Against Depression

    Author Peter D. Kramer
    Ebook
    Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
    On sale Jul 25, 2006 | 368 Pages | 9781101201145
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    "Deeply felt... [Kramer's] book is a polemic against a society that accepts depression as a fact of life." —O, The Oprah Magazine

    A profound look at depression by the author of The New York Times Bestseller, Listening to Prozac

    In his landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now Kramer offers a frank and unflinching look at the condition those medications treat: depression. Definitively refuting our notions of "heroic melancholy," he walks readers through groundbreaking new research—studies that confirm depression's status as a devastating disease and suggest pathways toward resilience. Thought-provoking and enlightening, Against Depression provides a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and promises hope to the millions who suffer from it.
    Prologue

    What It Is to Us
    1. The Final Memoir
    2. Return
    3. What If
    4. Ambivalence
    5. Altogether
    6. Charm
    7. More Charm
    8. Eros
    9. Obvious Confusion: Three Vignettes

    What It Is
    10. Altogether Again
    11. Getting There
    12. Magnitude
    13. Extent
    14. Convergence
    15. Resilience
    16. Here and Now

    What It Will Be
    17. The End of Melancholy
    18. Art
    19. The Natural
    20. Alienation
    21. After Depression

    Notes
    Index

    Peter D. Kramer is the author of eight books, including Ordinarily Well, Against Depression, the novels Spectacular Happiness and Death of the Great Man, and the national and international bestseller Listening to Prozac. His essays, op-eds, and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and elsewhere. Dr. Kramer hosted the public radio program The Infinite Mind and has appeared on the major broadcast news and talk shows, including Today, Good Morning America, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Fresh Air. For forty years, Dr. Kramer practiced psychiatry in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He now writes full time.
     
    Visit Dr. Kramer on the web: http://www.peterdkramer.com . View titles by Peter D. Kramer
    "An eloquent, absorbing book." —The New York Times Book Review
    "Deeply felt... [Kramer's] book is a polemic against a society that accepts depression as a fact of life." —O, The Oprah Magazine

    "Kramer makes an eloquent case for considering depression a disease... Captivating, convincing and thorough." —San Francisco Chronicle

    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

    "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

    "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

    "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

    About

    "Deeply felt... [Kramer's] book is a polemic against a society that accepts depression as a fact of life." —O, The Oprah Magazine

    A profound look at depression by the author of The New York Times Bestseller, Listening to Prozac

    In his landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now Kramer offers a frank and unflinching look at the condition those medications treat: depression. Definitively refuting our notions of "heroic melancholy," he walks readers through groundbreaking new research—studies that confirm depression's status as a devastating disease and suggest pathways toward resilience. Thought-provoking and enlightening, Against Depression provides a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and promises hope to the millions who suffer from it.

    Table of Contents

    Prologue

    What It Is to Us
    1. The Final Memoir
    2. Return
    3. What If
    4. Ambivalence
    5. Altogether
    6. Charm
    7. More Charm
    8. Eros
    9. Obvious Confusion: Three Vignettes

    What It Is
    10. Altogether Again
    11. Getting There
    12. Magnitude
    13. Extent
    14. Convergence
    15. Resilience
    16. Here and Now

    What It Will Be
    17. The End of Melancholy
    18. Art
    19. The Natural
    20. Alienation
    21. After Depression

    Notes
    Index

    Author

    Peter D. Kramer is the author of eight books, including Ordinarily Well, Against Depression, the novels Spectacular Happiness and Death of the Great Man, and the national and international bestseller Listening to Prozac. His essays, op-eds, and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and elsewhere. Dr. Kramer hosted the public radio program The Infinite Mind and has appeared on the major broadcast news and talk shows, including Today, Good Morning America, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Fresh Air. For forty years, Dr. Kramer practiced psychiatry in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He now writes full time.
     
    Visit Dr. Kramer on the web: http://www.peterdkramer.com . View titles by Peter D. Kramer

    Praise

    "An eloquent, absorbing book." —The New York Times Book Review
    "Deeply felt... [Kramer's] book is a polemic against a society that accepts depression as a fact of life." —O, The Oprah Magazine

    "Kramer makes an eloquent case for considering depression a disease... Captivating, convincing and thorough." —San Francisco Chronicle

    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

    "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

    "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

    "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

    Additional formats

    Other Books by this Author

    • Should You Leave?
      Should You Leave?
      A Psychiatrist Explores Intimacy and Autonomy--and the Nature of Advice
      Peter D. Kramer
      9780140272796
      $24.00 US
      Paperback
      Penguin Books
      Jan 01, 1999
    • Listening to Prozac
      Listening to Prozac
      The Landmark Book About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self
      Peter D. Kramer
      9780140266719
      $19.00 US
      Paperback
      Penguin Life
      Sep 01, 1997
    • Should You Leave?
      Should You Leave?
      A Psychiatrist Explores Intimacy and Autonomy--and the Nature of Advice
      Peter D. Kramer
      9780140272796
      $24.00 US
      Paperback
      Penguin Books
      Jan 01, 1999
    • Listening to Prozac
      Listening to Prozac
      The Landmark Book About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self
      Peter D. Kramer
      9780140266719
      $19.00 US
      Paperback
      Penguin Life
      Sep 01, 1997

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