LOST CONNECTIONS by Johann Hard

I know little about depression, anxiety and how they can devastate people's lives. I have also done little to further my knowledge of it over the years.  However having a close relative living with depression for many years now, and having been to three funerals of suicides in a 10 month time span, one of which I had a close involvement with, this has defiantly moved to the front of my brain as something I should really read more about. This particular book seems to be Top of the Pops at the moment, so worth a go.  I really should give it to my relative to read to see what they think of it, as reading the reviews on-line it seems to have very mixed reactions. More 5 stars than 1 star though, so must be making sense to many. 

The focus in this book is about how depression has been treated in our recent history, both medicinally and within the society structure we live in. The author has suffered from depression for many years, realised he wasn't getting better with the drugs being peddled to him, so takes himself down the path of trying to learn more about why we get depression, how it could be treated, why Big Pharma has come to dominate, and where our futures may lie with what he considers are modern day Western lifestyle illnesses. He is a very worthy convert, producing much research, speaking to experts, going into communities doing things differently with amazing results. And it is so great to read how lives have been changed through these different approaches. He writes so well, so engagingly, this book is a real joy to read. He manages to make all the sciency stuff easy to understand, does not get bogged down in too much theory or jargon. The chapters are short, the stories of people's lives fascinating. I learnt a lot about the nature of depression, what he sees are the nine causes of depression, and the seven reconnection strategies pivotal to producing the type of society where depression is significantly less than it is now. i won't go into all that here as there are plenty of reviews detailing his approach, the key being connectedness to other people, joint goals, having purpose and a feeling of self worth. Amongst other things. 

However, I don't really believe despite his zeal for curing the world at large, that this will happen in a hurry.   Drugs will still be the main form of management, and we have a long, long way to go to create the perfect world where everyone feels their lives are worthwhile. There is no mention in the book of those with severe mental illness  - schizophrenia, psychosis, post natal psychosis. Are these really lifestyle illnesses as he seems to imply? I kept waiting for these subjects to crop up and even went to the index where they aren't mentioned. So some disquiet surrounding this book as being the cure-all manual to the awfulness of depression and anxiety.

Despite these misgivings, I enjoyed reading it very much, I learnt a lot, it opened my eyes wide to the possibilities of improving the lives of those around us, and how to give our own lives more insight. Worth a read.