Product Description

The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policy makers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Andrew Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations -- around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Solomon takes readers on a journey of incom-parable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. His contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition is truly stunning.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15485 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Sometimes, the legacy of depression includes a wisdom beyond one's years, a depth of passion unexperienced by those who haven't traveled to hell and back. Off the charts in its enlightening, comprehensive analysis of this pervasive yet misunderstood condition, The Noonday Demon forges a long, brambly path through the subject of depression--exposing all the discordant views and "answers" offered by science, philosophy, law, psychology, literature, art, and history. The result is a sprawling and thoroughly engrossing study, brilliantly synthesized by author Andrew Solomon.

Deceptively simple chapter titles (including "Breakdowns," "Treatments," "Addiction," "Suicide") each sit modestly atop a virtual avalanche of Solomon's intellect. This is not a book to be skimmed. But Solomon commands the language--and his topic--with such grace and empathy that the constant flow of references, poems, and quotations in his paragraphs arrive like welcome dinner guests. A longtime sufferer of severe depression himself, Solomon willingly shares his life story with readers. He discusses updated information on various drugs and treatment approaches while detailing his own trials with them. He describes a pharmaceutical company's surreal stage production (involving Pink Floyd, kick dancers, and an opener à la Cats) promoting a new antidepressant to their sales team. He chronicles his research visits to assorted mental institutions, which left him feeling he would "much rather engage with every manner of private despair than spend a protracted time" there. Under Solomon's care, however, such tales offer much more than shock value. They show that depression knows no social boundaries, manifests itself quite differently in each person, and has become political. And, while it may worsen or improve, depression will never be eradicated. Hope lies in finding ways--as Solomon clearly has--to harness its powerful lessons. --Liane Thomas

From Publishers Weekly
"Depression is the flaw in love. To be creatures who love, we must be creatures who despair," begins Solomon's expansive and astutely observed examination of the experience, origins, and cultural manifestations of depression. While placing his study in a broad social contex-- according to recent research, some 19 million Americans suffer from chronic depression--he also chronicles his own battle with the disease. Beginning just after his senior year in college, Solomon began experiencing crippling episodes of depression. They became so bad that after losing his mother to cancer and his therapist to retirement he attempted (unsuccessfully) to contract HIV so that he would have a reason to kill himself. Attempting to put depression and its treatments in a cross-cultural context, he draws effectively and skillfully on medical studies, historical and sociological literature, and anecdotal evidence, analyzing studies of depression in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, Inuit life in Greenland, the use of electroshock therapy and the connections between depression and suicide in the U.S. and other cultures. In examining depression as a cultural phenomenon, he cites many literary melancholics Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, John Milton, Shakespeare, John Keats, and George Eliot as well as such thinkers as Freud and Hegel, to map out his "atlas" of the condition. Smart, empathetic, and exhibiting a wide and resonant knowledge of the topic, Solomon has provided an enlightening and sobering window onto both the medical and imaginative worlds of depression. (June)Forecast: Excerpted last year in the New Yorker, this pathbreaking work is bound to attract major review attention and media, boosted by a seven-city tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In addition to the self-help and parental advice genres is the literary and philosophical study of depression that harks back to Richard Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy. The Noonday Demon, based on an article that Solomon wrote for The New Yorker in 1998, is such a book. The backbone of this superb work is the author's narrative of his own struggles with severe depressionDhis musings on its multifarious causes and on the role that his privileged socioeconomic status has played in its successful management. Solomon also interviewed scores of other depression sufferers about their trials with treatment and visited Africa, Greenland, and Cambodia in search of different cultural perspectives. This journalistic approach allows Solomon to convey a great deal of information in the form of fascinating, if sometimes horrific, life stories. This compassionate work that never simplifies complex matters is essential for all collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A compelling, comprehensive volume detailing the experience of depression
In this remarkable work, author Andrew Solomon offers an incredibly thorough and engrossing account of the landscape of depression. He skillfully manages to weave together a virtually endless supply of scientific knowledge and up-to-date information on depression statistics and literature with excepts taken from a seemingly tireless series of interviews with fellow depression sufferers. It is these anecdotal vignettes which make up the heart of the book, as Solomon completely captivates his readers with these often-moving accounts. Solomon opens by sharing his own story ("Breakdowns"); along the way, he holds nothing back as he describes just how devastating repeated episodes of a major depressive disorder can be.

Solomon is a writer, not a psychologist, but as a psychologist myself, I was impressed by his grasp of this material. I was particularly gratified to see that earlier on in the book he dispelled with the myth of certain types of depression being "chemical" imbalances whereas others are not; he correctly points out that all emotions, be it depression, happiness, or what have you, result in chemical changes in the brain. Furthermore, based on his own treatment history, Solomon shows great open-mindedness about the roles of both medication and therapy in the treatment of depression; he specifically points out that those who are treated with psychotherapy alone show the same biological changes as those treated with medication. These are just a few of the most salient issues which spoke to me, but Solomon's work is comprehensive, covering everything from the history of depression to depressed populations; providing an overview of treatment, including the role of addictions; offering perspectives on contributing factors such as poverty and politics; and leaving his readers with a sense of hope.

This book is neither a light nor an easy read, but it is definitely worth the effort. It is perhaps not suited to those who are currently in the midst of a depressive episode, but those who have been there and back are likely to relate completely, and those professionals who work with depression sufferers are likely to gain new empathy and insights. Highly recommended.

Nothing new here....
I looked forward to reading this book, but mainly found it unenlightening and if you're depressed, it certainly won't improve your mood. The author does nothing to look at clinical trial results of SSRIs and newer antidepressants that conclude 50% of people do not respond or the percentage responding is no better than placebo. Many therapists will tell you most people on SSRIs go from one drug to another with some relief but eventually none work or patients end up on multiple drug therapy that barely keeps the illness at bay. He also gives a dismissive account of cognitive behavioral therapy in the early pages of the book that does not do justice to this treatment. He doesn't even mention dialectic behavior therapy. Both CBT and DBT have strong evidence to support their use and that they provide lasting benefit beyond treatment. His dismissive posture towards St JohnsWort as possibly dangerous is baffling. Most European drs. would disagree with him. He reveals his bias for pharmaceuticals early on and lets us know that he's on a cocktail of pills that keep him functional--but you have to wonder. I do commend him for looking at depression in marginal populations. If you are looking for a book that puts depression in a cultural and societal context (as this book promises to do but doesn't) I'd recommend David Karp's book Speaking of Sadness, which is a little more academic but gives some insight into the meaning of depression, which Solomon's book does not.

The noonday Demon: An atlas of depression
For anyone living with chronic depression, this book is invalable. It is also my reccomendation that it be read by someone close to another who is suffering with depression, it will allow you to understand, without having depression yourself, what the depressed person is going through better than any other book I have ever read on the subject. If you have a loved one suffering with depression and don't understand why they "don't just pull themselves out of it and get back involved in life" read this book, even just the first few chapters and you will have an entirely new understanding of the depressed person.