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OverviewDepression, once a subfield of neurosis, has become the most diagnosed mental disorder in the world. Why and how has depression become such a topical illness and what does it tell us about changing ideas of the individual and society? Alain Ehrenberg investigates the history of depression and depressive symptoms across twentieth-century psychiatry, showing that identifying depression is far more difficult than a simple diagnostic distinction between normal and pathological sadness - the one constant in the history of depression is its changing definition. Drawing on the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime devoted to the study of the individual in modern democratic society, Ehrenberg shows that the phenomenon of modern depression is not a construction of the pharmaceutical industry but a pathology arising from inadequacy in a social context where success is attributed to, and expected of, the autonomous individual. In so doing, he provides both a novel and convincing description of the illness that clarifies the intertwining relationship between its diagnostic history and changes in social norms and values. The first book to offer both a global sociological view of contemporary depression and a detailed description of psychiatric reasoning and its transformation - from the invention of electroshock therapy to mass consumption of Prozac - The Weariness of the Self offers a compelling exploration of depression as social fact. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Alain Ehrenberg , Alain EhrenbergPublisher: McGill-Queen's University Press Imprint: McGill-Queen's University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.685kg ISBN: 9780773536258ISBN 10: 0773536256 Pages: 304 Publication Date: 20 December 2009 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Tertiary & Higher Education , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely Availability: In Print  Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock. Table of ContentsReviewsOne gets drawn into Ehrenberg's interesting ideas ... this book could help spark a debate about a subject of growing concern in contemporary society. Winnipeg Free Press The European, and in particular the French, perspective of the history of depression in the context of self provides an interesting dimension, if not breadth, to the American perspective of depression specifically and mental illness generally, especially as the American view is usually oblivious of self-concepts. I am quite certain that those who choose to read this publication will be rewarded. Richard Duus, PsycCRITIQUES It is invaluable for those interested in understanding the nature of depression, its prevalence, and its complexity. Summing Up: Essential. Choice Magazine It is invaluable for those interested in understanding the nature of depression, its prevalence, and its complexity. Choice ... a major contribution to the anthropology of modern individuality [Ehrenberg] demonstrates an impressive knowledge of his field. The Weariness of the Self is not, nor does it pretend to be, a treatise on clinical depression. Instead it aims to demonst ...a historical journey into the history of depression, and, with it, psychiatry in general...it is aimed at those already well-versed in sociological, philosophical and anthropological debates about the meaning of mental disorder...this book is essential reading for all who study psychiatric and psychological disorders from any disciplinary perspective, and a careful reading will yield rich rewards. Dr Martyn Pickersgill writing for The Biologist Author InformationAlain Ehrenberg is research director emeritus at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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