ENGLISH

The Age of Melancholy: Major Depression and Its Social Origins

Book information

Year
2005
ISBN
0415951887, 9780415951883, 9780203956670
Open Library ID
OL7497565M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
7 MB (7433896 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
264\264
Time added
2011-06-04 19:45:58

Description

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.

Similar books