|
Basic InformationMore InformationTestsLatest NewsQuestions and AnswersHusband Sexting With a Mutual FriendSexFearWhy do I Have These Mood Swings?Violent When DrunkAngry All The TimeEating Disorder or Overreacting?What Is Wrong With Me ?Classify My Mental DisorderOCD, DepressionI'm Going Crazy?Please Help. I Criticize Myself Too Much and I Need to Stop. Trying to ForgetWhat's Wrong With Me?How to Overcome Depression Caused when Boyfriend Ditched Me?New Boyfriend Lying About Belongings That Are His Ex Girlfriend'sHow to Help my Delusional Son?Is Any of This Real?What is This, and What do I do About it?I Have Everything I Ever Wanted. Why am I so Miserable?How Can I Convince My Suicidal MD Husband To Be Evaluated?Sexual Abuse, What Should I do Now?Bipolar or Depressed or Neither?DepressionFeel Like Something's WrongToo Much SorrowVery EmptyReally Desperate..Please HelpMy Health?DepressionBipolar, Depression, Grief & AnxietyIs This a Flashback?Help Us With Our Son!No Clue What To Do. Help?Am I Going Crazy?Do I Suffer From Depression?Why Is He Doing This To Me?Am I Commitment-Phobic?I Don't Care For Anything, I Feel as Though I'm Wasting my Life.Anxiety Has Taken Over My Life...Not Able to be Happy With my HusbandHow Do I Get My 24 Year Old Son To A CounselorBipolar TeenI Have This IssueAm I Depressed?Fear of ChokingHelpIn Love With a Man Who Does Not Love MeI Think I Have a Mental Disorder?Stress and Loss of Feeling or Emotional DeadnessPlease Help MeOCD or Not OCD, That's The QuestionHow Can I Move Past This- A Question for StaffDoes Romance Lead to Aggression?Am I Depressed?Depressed, Anxious and Dead Inside...Please Help!BrokenWhy do I Feel Like Everyone is Trying to Upset me?My Husbands Roller Coaster of Proper Hygiene: Is it Depression?I Feel Like a Complete Waste of a Human LifeAm I Always Going to Feel Like This?Is He Changed???I Can't Stop CryingHopelessAnxious and Depressed SonIs There Any Hope For Me, or am I Destined to be Damaged?Falling ApartIs There Such a Thing as Happiness? JoylessWorrying Too Much About Anything.Helping and Watching a Friend's Recurrent Depression?Homesick and Feeling Stuck.Insanely Jealous HusbandPOCDCan Prescription Drug Use Lead to Delusional Beharior? Social Anxiety, Depression and More...SadSame Views On So Much, but Can't Get Along As A CoupleSuicidal ThoughtsHypothyroid 23 Year Old GirlIt's Me or It's My Mother?Is He a Narcissist?Help For Aging Human Service Professionals?DepressionIf There's Nothing New, There's Nothing Good.Please Respond, I Need Help Need To Ask SomeoneIs it Okay to Give Up?I'm Cheated By My Girlfriend..... I Just Want to Die.....How Can It Help?Everyone Says He is depressed, Is He? Or Does He Really Want a Divorce??Help! Please!I Think I Need Some HelpI Feel So Lost.Scared and LonelyPlease Help Me OutHow Much Should a Therapist Care or Reach Out?I Never Experience Happiness Mystery SymptomsI Think I'm DepressedBorn to Lose, or Nurtured to Lose?Help!Quadruple Bypass SurgeryAdviceI am an 18 Year Old Mom Diagnosed With Severe Depression And AnxietyExtremely Scared: I Felt Indifferent Toward an ObsessionSuffering with Treatment-Resistant DepressionMy Fiance May Have a Sexual, Nude Photo AddictionInfections and The BrainMy Girlfriend's Family Is Ruining Our RelationshipWorthlessI Need Help And Am At The End of My RopeHow Can I Cope With My Husband´s Depression and Its Sexual Consequences?What Is The Difference Between Mental Illness and Depression?Am I Over Thinking This, or Am I Right?AngerDo I Need Help?What Is It?Why Am I Thinking Like This?Why Does My Mother Hoard Everything, Including Garbage?Right in the middle of a nervous breakdown; What's wrong with me? Huge Disapointment With My HusbandI Don't Really Care About Anything. What Should I Do?Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Curable? Is it Really a Problem?I am Terrified of Death. AnhedoniaDetached: I Feel Guilty, But I Can't Help it.My Father, The Sociopath...I Feel Like a Question MarkAm I Not Normal!?Our 23 Year Old Son Refuses to Get Help for His Anxiety Attacks and Depression. What is Wrong? Husband Abandoned MeD.I.D. Diagnosis, How do I Accept This?I Don't Know Anymore. Please Help.Breaking up With Bipolar Depression - Blacking OutHe's Distant. Is he Leaving me?My Boyfriend Saved Pictures of his Ex-Girlfriend on His Computer.Restroom PhobiaWhat Is Wrong with Me?Should I Seek Help?When to Leave Therapy?Help Me Please. What is Going On With Me?I'm Afraid I'm Going CrazyI Don't Know What To DoAm I Wallowing in Depression?AngerSexual Abuse and Its Effects on Relationships AfterwardsWhat Is Wrong with Me, Doc? HelpDBSAm I Suffering a Kind of Psychological Problem?Attention Deficit and DepressionDo I Have an Eating Disorder?Do you think I sound depressed? I don't understand what is going on Is This Bi Polar?Depressed 19 year old college studentThoughtsDepression helps to contribute to my unemployment! - Paula Will I ever feel normal?I feel like I am going crazyWhat is wrong with me?I'm ScaredWhat Is Wrong with Me?Cyclical DepressionFrightening thoughts - fear losing control - please help!Anxious, depressed, confused, angry....the typical...Giving Up - Dad of three - Sep 15th 2008Counting ritual - Zami - Aug 30th 2008dont understand meExercising violence in dreamsSwallowing fear My husband wants to leave me Is there help for a person who has always been a 'little depressed'Depression TreatmentPlease help. Lovely, however... - Julie C. - Jul 14th 2008I am really worried about my mental health (19yr old female)Am I depressed?Identity Confusion: I don't know what personality disorders I haveDo I Have Bipolar Dsorder?Is there something wrong with me?Will I Ever? Worried about my sonIs There Help Out There? Lonely Mother of ThreeAm I Depressed?Help?Major Depressive Disorder Severe with Psychotic FeaturesOCD- No feelingHelp!!!: LaciIs the memory of my father dooming my relationship?Worried about thoughtsHow long will i be on medication for treatment of my depressionMy Mother Won't Go For Depression Treatment!Where do i start to get on the road to recoveryWhat is wrong with me?Stuck in an on-again, off-again relationship for 10 yearsDepression TreatmentHow do I get my dr.s to understand and help me?STUCK IN A RUTWhat treatments are available after you've tried the medicines of last resort?no one will help!Should I seek help?A fighting coupleDo I have a mental health problem?Whats wrong with me?depression and employmenthow do you treat depression in teenager males?Is it ok to feel this way?Have DID: Getting Worse Not BetterCan we contact my mother's doctor?anxiety or going crazy?ADD, Tourettes or both?DepressedI think i'm lost?Don't want to take medsWill this ever endGet SupportedStages of DepressionIs there any help?Can you help?Dark FantasiesBlood testsIs it illusion or truth?should a depressed person marry?Dementia and DepressionAnger?What type of exams can proven that a person has bipolar disorder?Stuck in a mental rut...Loss of Patiencei can't seem to get over any of thisIntrusive humiliating memoriesIs there some way to deal with depression without meds?losing personality wholnessWhat is the point of life?No change is normal mood (e.g., Depression)Lack of Personal HygieneDiagnosing DepressionDoes untreated depression pass on to a fetus?A Request for HelpRegular thoughts of killing myselfHow do I help my depressed, unemployed motherAngry at my doctor for prescribing so carelesslyI become very hostile towards myselfComing to Terms With My Own Pathetic ExistenceDo environmental factors hold a person back?Tired of this DepressionStruggling With Feelings And ThoughtsGreatly DepressedIs Depression Getting More Prevalent?An Empty ShellHelping My HusbandInability To Express MyselfNon-medication Help For DepressionSuicidalSick Of Feeling This WayUntrusting PatientDepressed and Not DatingCongenital LazinessMoody BoyfriendElectroconvulsive TherapyDesperateFrustrated and Sucked DryToo Young For MedsDepressed HusbandParanoid DepressionSelf-Harming Attention SeekerDid My Parents Make Me Like This?Wild Mood SwingsA Wonderful ManHow Can I Become Less Depressed?18, Sad and HopelessShould I Continue With Therapy?Childhood DepressionCan I Help My Wife With Depression?Prozac QuestionsApproaching My Tightly Wound Depressed Attorney BrotherBrain Injury and DepressionNo Compassion For DepressionRecurrent DepressionMeds Don't Seem To Work So Now What?Pleasure-blindDo People Recover From Depression?Shy DancerCrying Is BehaviorMed ConsultFeeling Depressed and InsecureShyness And The Post Partum BluesThe Aftermath of AbuseDo I Tell My Children I'm Depressed?Now What?Medicine Doesn't Work AnymoreDepressedThe First TimeDepressed BoyfriendHow Do I Leave?Potentially Suicidal BoyfriendAlternative TreatmentBereavement and GriefParanoid DadDepression Affects The Entire FamilyHow Can I Stop Depression From Recurring?Crohn's Disorder Side EffectsIs Paranoia A Destiny?Post-Drinking DepressionSecurity Clearance and DepressionCan I Inherit Depression?Two CliniciansDepressed SpouseDepression 101Hypnosis?Controlling, Disabled HusbandAre These Just Mood SwingsDrifting Apart?Drinking. . .A Mother Struggles with DepressionMarijuana and DepressionOverburdened MomTrashed HouseBeautiful DreamerPMS WoesSeverely DepressedMiss LonelyUnhappy and In TherapyHe Won't Tell Me Why...LonelyDepression Affecting My RelationshipLonesomeMy Children Aren't Speaking..My Wife is DepressedMy Boyfriend Is DepressedParlante writes: VideosLinksBook Reviews |
| |
by Gary Greenberg Simon & Schuster, 2010 Review by Benjamin J. Lovett, Ph.D. on Aug 10th 2010 
Perhaps the most common piece of information heard about depression today is that it is a disease. "Depression is a disease" is practically a mantra, used to encourage those feeling depressed to consult health professionals. In Manufacturing Depression, Gary Greenberg explores what it would mean for depression to be a disease and how we have come to view it as one. It's a nice idea for a book, but Greenberg's execution of that idea is uneven.
The book is really three separate stories: a history of ideas about the nature, causes, and treatment of depression; a recounting of Greenberg's personal experiences with depression; and a critique of the disease model of depression. The primary story, the historical one, is surprisingly haphazard. Famous thinkers who I expected to see extensive discussion of (e.g., Robert Burton, Melanie Klein, Martin Seligman) are covered either very briefly or not at all. Meanwhile, Greenberg squanders valuable space on tangential information, such as the development of statistical significance tests in agriculture, or Albert Hoffman's discovery of LSD. The problem isn't so much that Greenberg mentions these tidbits, but that he discusses them in such detail that the flow of the core story is lost. In chapter 3, for instance, Greenberg describes the derivation of dyes from sea snails, the development of chemistry in 19th century England, and the origins of the germ theory of disease, although any connections to the depression story are vague and indirect. Occasionally, his departures from the expected historical narrative are interesting (such as his consideration of the Book of Job as a story of depression and its attempted treatment), but they are more often frustrating. His coverage of typical topics (e.g., Kraepelin, Freud, the DSM) is accurate, but marred by his speculative connections between theorists' biographical details and their ideas.
The personal story, which bookends most of the chapters, involves Greenberg's multiple bouts of clinical depression, his participation in a research study aiming to treat depression, and his experiences as a psychotherapist treating clients with depression. Greenberg's descriptions of his own symptoms, his response to treatments (and its monitoring by researchers), and his approach to patients are all interesting. I often found myself wishing for more details and a more systematic presentation of these experiences. Unfortunately, this aspect of the book was short on details and long on meditative reflection that rarely led anywhere.
Finally, we come to Greenberg's critique. If Manufacturing Depression has a thesis, it is that biological/scientific approaches to understanding depression have been manufactured on the basis of thin evidence and unwarranted assumptions. Although Greenberg does not explicitly argue for this claim (his writing style is far too unsystematic for that, and his occasional arguments are actually based on rather tendentious interpretations of the relevant literatures), the book as a whole provides some evidence for the claim. Greenberg's personal experiences with depression (both as a client as a therapist) are meant to illustrate the complexity of depressive symptoms and their origins, and the intractability of finding a simple explanation for depression. His historical sketches are meant to show the wishful thinking and erroneous reasoning of those researchers and theorists who would be so bold as to think that they have explained depression once and for all. While the case is underargued, it contains a valuable lesson nonetheless: despite thousands of scientific studies on depression, we still do not have any explanations which apply to every case, let alone an explanation that leads to a treatment with anything close to guaranteed efficacy.
Unfortunately, that lesson is all that has been established after over 300 pages of Manufacturing Depression. All of Greenberg's other thoughts about depression are just intuitions without any kind of evidence or logical defense; as he admits, "All I really have is belief." He goes on to speculate that "maybe I don't want to believe that depression is a disease because I am a coward, afraid of a not-so-distant future when doctors know more about me than I possibly can, including how to make me better" (336-7). Ultimately, Greenberg's selective history and recollection of his personal experiences are designed to help him maintain a belief that he admits is merely that – a belief. Readers who already share this belief (that depression is not a disease) may find the book similarly helpful, but those expecting a neutral, representative history of ideas about depression, or a careful, systematic analysis of any of those ideas, will be disappointed.
© 2010 Benjamin J. Lovett
Benjamin J. Lovett, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychology at Elmira College, where his research focuses on psychoeducational assessment and psychiatric diagnosis, and he teaches a variety of courses in applied psychology. |