Depression

SciTech Book News, June, 2008

Depression.

Aguirre, Blaise A.

Greenwood Press

2008

176 pages

$45.00

Hardcover

Biographies of disease

RC537

Despite being recognized since antiquity, depression remains a poorly understood illness. After tracing the history of thought on and treatment of depression and citing international prevalence data, Aguirre (clinical psychiatry, Harvard U. School of Medicine) features the prose, poetry, and blues lyrics of psychologists, writers, singers, and others on what has been variously called "...the inability to construct a future" (Rollo May) or "...a positive energy that gave strength and genius to great artists throughout Western civilization" (director, Musee Picasso). The focus is less on biographies of those with depression than on its diagnosis, causes, treatment, complications, and research directions.

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