From theNew York Timesbestselling author of Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, a radical new way of thinking about depression and anxiety. What really causes depression and anxiety--and how can we really solve them? Award-winning journalist Johann Hari suffered from depression since he was a child and started taking antidepressants when he was a teenager. He was told that his problems were caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, trained in the social sciences, he began to investigate whether this was true--and he learned that almost everything we have been told about depression and anxiety is wrong. Across the world, Hari found social scientists who were uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains. In fact, they are largely caused by key problems with the way we live today. Hari's journey took him from a mind-blowing series of experiments in Baltimore, to an Amish community in Indiana, to an uprising in Berlin. Once he had uncovered the real causes, they led him to scientists who are discovering very different solutions--ones that work. Just as Chasing the Scream transformed the global debate about addiction, Lost Connectionswill lead us to a very different understanding of depression and anxiety--and show how, together, we can end this epidemic. Reviews: "Hari aims to demonstrate that the feelings of depression and anxiety experienced by individuals are symptomatic of a larger societal ailment that must be addressed. He makes a good case for this theory, supplying the reader with overwhelming (and engrossing) evidence." - Publishers Weekly "This is a bold and inspiring book that will help far more than just those who suffer from depression. As Hari shows, we all have within us the potential to live in ways that are healthier and wiser." - Arianna Huffington "Johann Hari is again getting people to think differently about our mood, our minds and our drug use, and that is something we need a lot more of." - Bill Maher "If you have ever been down, or felt lost, this amazing book will change your life. Do yourself a favour--read it now." - Elton John "Like a secular oracle Johann Hari stands on the periphery observing what is coming. This book is a prescient and compassionate Rosetta Stone for those trying to understand mental illness. Beautiful." - Russell Brand "An exquisitely lucid treatise on why no person is, has been or ever should be an island. This book is the most exciting thing I've read this year. From slightly seedy to suicidal--however you are feeling--read this book and it will honestly help you to understand which roads we must walk if we want to see true, lasting change." - Emma Thompson "Through a breathtaking journey across the world, Johann Hari exposes us to extraordinary people and concepts that will change the way we see depression forever. It is a brave, moving, brilliant, simple and earth shattering book that must be read by everyone and anyone who is longing for a life of meaning and connection." - Eve Ensler, author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD "Depression and anxiety are the maladies of our time, but not for the reasons you think. In this compulsively readable history of these ailments, Johann Hari tells us how the science went wrong and how the obvious got overlooked. An important diagnosis from one of the ablest journalist writing in the English language today." - Thomas Frank, author of WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS "This is one of those extraordinary books that you want all your friends to read immediately--because the shift in world-view is so compelling and dramatic that you wonder how you’ll be able to have conversations with them otherwise. A highly personal book, written with humility, humor and candor, it nonetheless heralds a crucial new discussion about our mental health--and health of the world we've created for ourselves. I haven't been so gripped for ages . . . I honestly couldn't put it down. What a stunning piece of work." - Brian Eno "Lost Connections is an important, convention-challenging, provocative and supremely timely read. It is about time we looked at mental health through the prism of society rather than, simply, medicine. This brilliant book helps us to do that." - Matt Haig, author of REASONS TO STAY ALIVE "As with his book on drugs, Johann Hari has delivered a remarkable tour de force on a difficult, complex and controversial subject and made the reader think anew." - Alastair Campbell, author of THE HAPPY DEPRESSIVE "Johann Hari follows his groundbreaking and revolutionary book on addiction with an equally vital, compelling and eye-opening examination of the myths we have been taught to believe about depression and anxiety. With this book that brilliantly interweaves science, philosophy and searing personal experience, and which methodically dissects the truth around mental health, Hari again proves that he is one of the world's most important and most enlightening thinkers and social critics." - Glenn Greenwald, author of NO PLACE TO HIDE "Wise, probing, and deeply generous Hari has produced a book packed with explosive revelations about our epidemic of despair. Yes, it is about depression but it is also about the way we live now--and the havoc perennial isolation is wrecking on our collective mental health and general wellbeing. I am utterly convinced that the more people read this book, the better off the world will be." - Naomi Klein, author of NO IS NOT ENOUGH: RESISTING TRUMP'S SHOCK POLITICS AND WINNING THE WORLD WE NEED "A special writer, a great researcher and a great wordsmith . . . This look at depression will change everything you think about it." - Touré "Johann Hari has a knack of making me reframe the way I look at issues. This book is a game changer." - Davina McCall "This is an astonishing book that transforms our understanding of one of the crucial issues of our times. Johann Hari asks the big questions and provides the big answers--answers that have been neglected for far too long. You cannot fully understand this great curse of our age until you have read it." - George Monbiot "In Lost Connections, Johann Hari has written a wide-ranging and informative exploration of the epidemic of depression that plagues our culture, with a special emphasis on the nature/nurture split that continues to underly the discussion. Beginning as a true believer in purely organic causes of depression, Hari journeys to a more expansive view that takes in a psychodynamic origin as well. Most importantly, he looks to the unnutritious values that our society espouses for an explanation--as well as a possible solution--to this pervasive and painful malady." - Daphne Merkin, author of THIS CLOSE TO HAPPY "Hari spent three years meticulously researching and footnoting the book, which puts a vivid human face on our behemoth and often abstract anti-drug efforts." -The Atlantic on CHASING THE SCREAM "A riveting book." -San Francisco Chronicle on CHASING THE SCREAM "Hari's empathy and keen eye for detail bring a disparate group of characters to life. . . . It's a testament to Hari's skill as a writer that the most discomposing portrayal is of Marcia Powell, a mentally ill drug addict whom he never had the chance to meet." - New York Times Book Review on CHASING THE SCREAM About the Author: Johann Hari is the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream, which is being adapted into a feature film.He was twice named Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International UK. He has written for theNew York Times, theLos Angeles Times, and others, and he is a regular panelist on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. His TED talk, “Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong,” has more than 20 million views. |