The Noonday Demon
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 as well as the reasons for hope. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications and 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 biological explanations for mental illness. With uncommon humanity, candor, wit and erudition, award-winning author Solomon takes readers on a journey of incomparable 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.
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13mentions
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2013–2026years
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What Hacker News says
- Start a journal. Use a text editor, Word, Google Docs, or pen and paper. Whatever suits you. Just write whatever interests you or consumes you. Don't worry about reading it back. Try to write 2-3 times a week until you can get to near-daily practice. Over time, you'll find yourself beyond who you thought you were with your partner. i got divorced after 9 years of marriage at about the same age. It's 15 years later and I am alone and loving it. Of course, I am an extreme introvert. Social, but highly sensitive to disruption. I would never have survived without journaling. I learned to become my own best friend. I learned to feel emotions, but not let them control me. I am more resilient now than I have ever been. Also, read Montaigne. He wrote at the end of the 15th Century. With a few minor gendered habits and patterns of the time, Montaigne writes like a contemporary essayists. Without trying, you will find a lot of common sense observations. He will become a friend. It feels like suffocating now, but take time to breathe every day. It will seem like it takes forever. Administer to yourself. Another read, although far rougher is The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Amdrew Solomon. It's easy to read, but hard to feel the weight of Andrew and others perspectives. It can help you feel seen and heard. Start with the initial New Yorker article and then decide on the book. https://archive.ph/eMloR Above all, don't search for advice. Take these posts as encouragment that it does get better. We all have general similarities, but knowing the shape and texture of your perspective will help you develop an inner core you can rely on. You can make it. I did. Take it day by day. Touch grass. Touch fur. And find ways to connect in person and in conversation. Hang in there.
- > How to solve most cases of depression
Tread carefully friend, I agree this is a good list to _prevent_ the most common forms of depression, but some will think you are framing major clinical depression as a personal failing.
Some people slide into a hole of their own making. Others get thrown into the abyss by external factors. Grief, trauma, abuse, crises of repressed identity, poverty and poor prospects. Life can be brutal.
I highly, highly recommend The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (Solomon) for anyone that is interested in a comprehensive view of depression.
- This was definitely my experience. It takes so long and so much effort to get out of a deep depression that it strains everyone around you.
If anyone's gone through or is going through something similar, I highly recommend "The Noonday Demon." It captures much of the subjective experience of someone going through a depression, and how weird and frustrating the experience can be for everyone involved. https://www.amazon.com/Noonday-Demon-Atlas-Depression/dp/150...
- The Noonday Demon. A beautiful book on depression. Heartbreaking and life-affirming in turns.
- The Burnout Society, The Transparency Society by Byung-Chul Han
Klara and the sun
Project Hail Mary
The Noonday Demon
- My 2010's read highlights:
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-Harari/d...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-Be...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laws-Power-Robert-Greene-Collection...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wealth-Poverty-Politics-Thomas-Sowe...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noonday-Demon-Andrew-Solomon/dp/009...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Write-Thesis-MIT-Press/dp/02625...
