From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, a radical new way of thinking about depression and anxiety.What really causes depression and anxiety – and how can we really solve them? Award-winning journalist Johann Hari suffered from depression since he was a child and started taking anti-depressants when he was a teenager. He was … when he was a teenager. He was told that his problems were caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, trained in the social sciences, he began to investigate whether this was true – and he learned that almost everything we have been told about depression and anxiety is wrong.
Across the world, Hari found social scientists who were uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains. In fact, they are largely caused by key problems with the way we live today. Haris journey took him from a mind-blowing series of experiments in Baltimore, to an Amish community in Indiana, to an uprising in Berlin. Once he had uncovered nine real causes of depression and anxiety, they led him to scientists who are discovering seven very different solutions – ones that work.
It is an epic journey that will change how we think about one of the biggest crises in our culture today. His TED talk – ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong’ – has been viewed more than 8 million times and revolutionized the global debate. This book will do the same.
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This is a deep dive into how losing connection with community–and too much reliance on superficial ‘fixes’–leads to depression and anxiety. The author makes a superb case for his thesis, and I think this is great reading for anyone trying to figure out why, in an era of more technological connectedness than ever before, so many feel alone and lonely. Though he does touch on the dark side of communities (I include everything from truly disfunctional family units to some religious groups), I did feel he glossed over that and the power and importance of individuality to break free when necessary. To me, peace and happiness comes from a BALANCE of both healthy individuality and healthy community. Maybe it’s too much to ask all of that of one book? In any case, I do recommend. I listened to the audiobook format, which the author Johann Hari narrated, and he did a superb job. I thought his narrative style was engaging and helped draw me into the material.
This book is very insightful. Having had a bout or two with melancholy myself, Hari’s view helped me recognize potential issues that I had never imagined. I’ve implemented a few of them in my life already and have seen dramatic changes in how I respond to the world. For the first time in a long time, I don’t look at myself as someone who is broken within. And this has made all the difference… Thanks, Johann!
Mandatory reading imho for anyone who is on or has taken anti-depressant or anti-anxiety pharmaceutical medication (or if you know anyone who is or has). I mean, therefore, this book should be read by every adult in the western world. This book will, with great care and detail, expose the organised crime and fraud that big-pharma companies in conjunction with our health-advisors and public health organisations commit against each of us. If you read this book and still want to keep popping your pills… well, I would question if you’d understood it properly! Read it and prove that I lie!
Well written, well researched. Connections matter more than we think.
These days when we’re all so far apart, connection is on our minds more than ever. I saw a TED talk with Johann Hari (or was it an article I read??) in which he said: “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.” This (non-fiction) book is one of the most important I’ve read. (The first half is better and then it loses some of its steam but it’s all good.) I think so much of what ails us these days can be boiled down to not being connected to each other anymore. I highly recommend this. Next on my list in this same vein is Together, by Vivek Murthy. I heard him in conversation with Brené Brown on her podcast and immediately looked up his book (just released this week).
Johann Hari points us in the right direction for bringing the high rates of depression and anxiety down.A universal income proposed by RuterBergme could give workers an element of choice who are stuck in dead end jobs.The writer finds evidence that community involvement and time spent in gardens and nature helps improve our mental outlook. The author quotes the world health organization which states we need to address issues which are closely related to social problems We need to move. from focusing on chemical imbalances to focusing on power imbalances We have the potential to heal society and the author writes of groups in Berlin,Indiana and Baltimore who have done just that by community efforts Let us emulate and learn from their experience
This is a timely book. A must-read for anyone who is interested in depression, its roots and causes and how what we’ve learned about mental illness and depression is only the partial truth, the tip of the iceberg. Convention-defying and inspirational, I walked away from this book with a fresh perspective on who we are—our basic needs as social beings and what makes us truly happy. One of my favorite lines: “Depression, I realized, is itself a form of grief—for all the connections we need, but don’t have.”
To worst and out there????
Easy to read. He did his research and explained well. After reading this book I do have a better understanding about depression.
helped me to understand myself, others and the world we live in
As with “Chasing the Screa’l Hari does not disappoint! This investigation into how society views and the medical industry treats those with depression is spot on; The proven alternative treatments of the condition in the last part of the book.
Simply Brilliant.
Author has important discovery of causation of depression and anxiety. Clear, powerful, personally revelatory for me. EVERYONE needs to read this!
This author did his homework! I think he’s got something different to say about depression and anxiety that many people need to hear. Yes, all that bad stuff you lived through has a profound effect on you. You don’t just need more Seratonin. You need people who will validate your experience and share your burden. He has some good ideas, but as a believer I can tell you Jesus can do all that and more. He can give you hope when you are hopeless and the Church is His family. A good church will become a family to you that will be there for you when you need them. Anyway, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling.
I recommend this book to anyone, not just people suffering from depression or anxiety. Thought provoking.
If you have ever felt that you are on the verge of improving your life but are held back by past traumas or relationships, this book can help you shed the lead weight and move on. It’s one man’s journal of discovery about the root causes of depression and anxiety (biological, social and psychological) and relies on vivid personal anecdotes as well as summaries of the latest scientific research. Though it’s not a self-help book, by following Johann Hari’s journey and the lives of those he interviews, the reader can find ways of putting his or her own life and mind on track. The chapters on anti-depressant drugs, loneliness, reconnection to nature and community, and the importance of productive work over which one has meaningful control, are particularly eye-opening. I discovered this book because I had previously read Hari’s book on the drug crisis, CHASING THE SCREAM, and regarded the author as a truth-teller. So even if you don’t ever get depressed or anxious, I recommend LOST CONNECTIONS as a way to learn how to live a satisfying life in our modern Western society.
Throw away all you’re books on depression, this is the only book you will ever need, Well written with research all over the world. I loved the part about child trauma, parts about healing and people coming together. I learned a lot about myself in this book too. I have a different outlook on life now.
Thank you Good Reads for the free book for my honest review.
This should be a bestseller.