The age of melancholy : "major depression" and its social origins

Depression has become the most frequently diagnosed chronic mental illness, and is a disability encountered almost daily by mental health professionals of all trades. "Major Depression" is a medical disease, which some would argue has reached epidemic proportions in contemporary society, and it affects our bodies and brains just like any other disease. Why, this book asks, has the incidence of depression been on such an increase in the last 50 years, if our basic biology hasn't changed as rapidly? To find answers, Dr. Blazer looks at the social forces, cultural and environmental upheavals, and other external, group factors that have undergone significant change. In so doing, the author revives the tenets of social psychiatry, the process of looking at social trends, environmental factors, and correlations among groups in efforts to understand psychiatric disorders. "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. Front cover 1 Contents 8 Preface 10 Section I: The Diagnosis of Depression 12 Chapter 1. Introduction 14 Chapter 2. The Birth and Growth of Major Depression 30 Chapter 3. The Evolution of Depression as a Diagnosis 50 Section II: Social Psychiatry 68 Chapter 4. The Birth and Growth of Social Psychiatry 70 Chapter 5. The Retreat of Social Psychiatry 88 Section III: The Frequency of Depression and a Lesson from War and Society 106 Chapter 6. Interpreting the Burden of Depression 108 Chapter 7. A Lesson from War Syndromes 128 Chapter 8. Things Fall Apart: Society and Depression in the 21st Century 146 Section IV: The Revival of Social Psychiatry 172 Chapter 9. A Call for Basic Social Science Research in Psychiatry 174 Chapter 10. Emotion: A Link between Body and Society 192 Chapter 11. The Problem with Soma 210 Notes 224 Index 252 Back cover 264 Content: Preface -- The diagnosis of depression -- Introduction -- The birth and growth of major depression -- The rise and fall of depression as a reaction -- Social psychiatry -- The birth and growth of social psychiatry -- The retreat of social psychiatry -- The frequency of depression and a lesson from war and society -- Interpreting the burden of depression -- A lesson from war syndromes -- Things fall apart: society and depression in the 21st century -- The revival of social psychiatry -- A call for basic social science research in psychiatry -- Emotion: a link between body and society -- The problem with Soma.