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The Secret History Of A Modern Disease
Simon & Schuster
February 2010
On Sale: February 2, 2010
448 pages ISBN: 1416569790 EAN: 9781416569794 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
am i happy enough? This has been a pivotal question since America's inception.
Am I not happy enough because I am depressed? is a
more recent version. In the past twenty years, as
antidepressants have become staples of our medicine chests —
upward of thirty million Americans are taking them at an
annual cost of more than ten billion dollars — more people
have begun to ask themselves if their unhappiness is a
disease that can, and should, be treated by
medication. Part memoir, part intellectual history,
part exposé, Manufacturing Depression reveals how
this question has come to dominate our understanding of our
suffering. Author Gary Greenberg draws on sources ranging
from the Old Testament to current medical journals and
scholarship to his twenty-five years as a psychotherapist
and his own experience as a depression patient to show how
the idea that depression is a widespread chronic disease has
been packaged by brilliant scientists, doctors, and
marketing experts — and why it is has become wildly
successful in the marketplace of ideas. Rather than
asking whether or not depression is a disease, or whether or
not we should take drugs to ease our pain, Greenberg asks
what we gain and lose by taking this approach, and who
benefits when we do. Manufacturing Depression allows readers
to think of depression not just as an illness, but as a
story about our suffering, its source, and its relief. A
remarkably intelligent, witty, and deeply perceptive writer
and professional observer, Greenberg has insights and
perspective that are bound to spark much debate, and
challenge many — experts and casual readers alike— to view
depression in a wholly new light.
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