The Age of Melancholy: "Major Depression" and its Social Origin

"In The Age of Melancholy, noted psychiatrist and author Dan Blazer ponders why - if our biological makeup has not fundamentally changed in the last half-century - we are suddenly depressed on an epidemic scale? He does not have to look far to find answers in the breakneck pace of 21st century life, in our societal pressures, in our intrusive work spaces, and in our disjointed relationships. And yet, despite many seemingly obvious links between our environment and our mental health, contemporary psychiatry is dependent on biomedical treatments for patients who are viewed as solitary individuals, each with independent factors causing depression. The increasing emphasis on the biological sciences and simultaneous loss of interest in related social sciences have put up blinders and impeded progress toward our understanding and treatment of major depression." "In this wide-ranging treatise, Dan Blazer calls for a revival of social psychiatry, which, complementing and completing medical and clinical research, could provide powerful insights into the causes, prevention, and treatment of depression."--BOOK JACKET.

Dan G. Blazer is JP Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center.