The Loss of Sadness or Treadmill Training for Runners

The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Misery into Depressive Disorder

Author: Allan V Horwitz

Depression has become the single most commonly treated mental disorder, amid claims that one out of ten Americans suffer from this disorder every year and 25% succumb at some point in their lives. Warnings that depressive disorder is a leading cause of worldwide disability have been accompanied by a massive upsurge in the consumption of antidepressant medication, widespread screening for depression in clinics and schools, and a push to diagnose depression early, on the basis of just a few symptoms, in order to prevent more severe conditions from developing.
In The Loss of Sadness, Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield argue that, while depressive disorder certainly exists and can be a devastating condition warranting medical attention, the apparent epidemic in fact reflects the way the psychiatric profession has understood and reclassified normal human sadness as largely an abnormal experience. With the 1980 publication of the landmark third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), mental health professionals began diagnosing depression based on symptoms--such as depressed mood, loss of appetite, and fatigue--that lasted for at least two weeks. This system is fundamentally flawed, the authors maintain, because it fails to take into account the context in which the symptoms occur. They stress the importance of distinguishing between abnormal reactions due to internal dysfunction and normal sadness brought on by external circumstances. Under the current DSM classification system, however, this distinction is impossible to make, so the expected emotional distress caused by upsetting events-for example, the loss of a job or the end of arelationship- could lead to a mistaken diagnosis of depressive disorder. Indeed, it is this very mistake that lies at the root of the presumed epidemic of major depression in our midst.
In telling the story behind this phenomenon, the authors draw on the 2,500-year history of writing about depression, including studies in both the medical and social sciences, to demonstrate why the DSM's diagnosis is so flawed. They also explore why it has achieved almost unshakable currency despite its limitations. Framed within an evolutionary account of human health and disease, The Loss of Sadness presents a fascinating dissection of depression as both a normal and disordered human emotion and a sweeping critique of current psychiatric diagnostic practices. The result is a potent challenge to the diagnostic revolution that began almost thirty years ago in psychiatry and a provocative analysis of one of the most significant mental health issues today.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Brett C. Plyler, M.D.(Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
Description:This book explores the idea that our current concept of depression is flawed because it does not include the context or circumstances in which the depression occurred.
Purpose:The purpose is to demonstrate that human sadness has been misclassified as depression.
Audience:The book is written for both mental health practitioners and lay people.
Features:In their discussion of the flaws in our definition of depression, the authors detail a number of reasons why normal, human sadness has been wrongly included as a depressive illness. They begin with a historical examination of depression versus sadness and proceed forward in time to consider the modern contributors to the misunderstanding of sadness. The authors consider a number of reasons for this, but a few stand out: the DSM and its definition of depression that needs more qualification to distinguish it from sadness more readily; scientific publication on depression that has become an industry unto itself; and the widespread availability of antidepressant medications.
Assessment:This is an interesting and thought provoking book that underscores the need to examine more fully each patient's psychological illness and the factors contributing to it. Though a well trained mental health practitioner should be able to distinguish sadness from depression, the authors do an excellent job of breaking down the flaws in the mental health field, particularly the problems with the DSM, that have led to the sudden explosion of depressive diagnoses over the past 25 years. I would recommend thisbook to anyone interested in understanding depression more fully and the place normal sadness has in our society.

Books about: Tell Me What to Eat if I Have Acid Reflux or Anger Kills

Treadmill Training for Runners: How to Utilize the Treadmill for Your Running Goals

Author: Rick Morris

Treadmill Training for Runners shows it's readers how to reach their running and fitness goals using the treadmill. The book includes over 50 workouts and training programs designed specifically for the treadmill. Readers will learn how to gain fitness, lose weight and train for races from a 5K to a full marathon.