A fascinating look at a debilitating malady and the new wave of thinking and treatments.
A leader in the field explains how the nightmare of depression is slowly being overcome.
Gold, who has worked at the National Institutes of Health since the mid-1970s, is an acclaimed expert in the treatment of depressive disorders. In this book, he looks ahead to an emerging generation of remedies. The author estimates that 15%-20% of the population suffer from depression in some form. For decades, depression was seen as an illness to be treated by psychiatric methods, but the past 20 years have seen the emphasis shift to biology. Health professionals now view depression as a neurodegenerative disease associated with the loss of tissue in key parts of the brain, resulting in chemical imbalances and synaptic failures. In particular, Gold believes that depression represents a stress response that has gone awry. Working from this premise, scientists have designed new drugs to help the brain rebuild pathways and repair damaged tissue. There is the possibility of treatments customized to the needs of different patients, and early research is promising. The author tracks the history of antidepressants, drawing on cases and clinical studies, including ones in which he was personally involved. Drugs like psilocybin and ketamine are now being used, and they have the advantage of taking effect quickly. Another area of research is targeted electrical stimulation of the brain, including repeated magnetic pulses. Researchers are also investigating the genetic aspects of depression, which might open the way for gene therapy and drugs to build resilience. Gold emphasizes that he is not against psychiatric treatment. In fact, he sees psychotherapy and biochemical therapy in combination as the most effective way to treat depression. The book could easily have become bogged down in technical jargon, but the author writes accessibly, making the book an informative, enjoyable read.
A fascinating look at a debilitating malady and the new wave of thinking and treatments.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781538724613
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Memories of 25 years on the couch make for a curiously compelling recounting of the rewards and shortcomings of psychoanalysis. Chernin (Crossing the Border, 1994, etc.), herself a psychoanalyst, dives into recollections of time spent with three analysts over a quarter of a century. Using traditional analytic tools—primarily association—she recalls to life the passionate young woman in Vienna who sought intellectual and sexual adventure; the fragmented, newly divorced young mother in California who found in her first analyst a target of devotion; the emerging adult who found a life's work and a credo of bisexuality with her second analyst, and the mature woman who broke with classical ``interpretive'' psychoanalysis through her third analyst. All of these rewarding if drawn-out probes are tracked by a shadow self that has ``descended, as if in a diving bell, to uncharted regions.'' It is not Chernin's theories, but her ability to lead the reader into that ``teeming, fecund inner world,'' which rarely surfaced in the analysts' offices, that make this book appealing. With the help of yet another analyst who monitors her clinical work, she comes to believe that analysis is not the science of mining the psyche, but the art of storytelling. The ``patient'' molds a unique story for the ``doctor'' to appreciate without fitting either the tale or the telling into an established framework. Whether about infants as bisexual beings or adults as their own best storytelling analysts, Chernin's sudden ``insights'' echo ideas that have been chewed over since Freud (and long before, if you count mythology). Still, she pleads for respect, citing those insights as hers for the moment, invested with the ``aha'' of personal discovery—like a child who finally understands that c-a-t is more than squiggly lines. Despite her angry critique of traditional psychoanalysis, Freud remains a hero and psychoanalysis has ``a lasting place among the major achievements of our culture.'' There are echos of Erica Jong in this book's naive self- absorption, but Chernin's hard-core fans will find it rich with discovery.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017118-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inspirational and uplifting; a thorough guide to making a change.
A leadership coach lays out a personal transformation plan in this debut manual.
Self-empowerment is the basis for most books in the self-help category, and this lively work follows that pattern. Here, Ruth’s focus is on helping readers make fundamental change, even if it does not come easily: “Wherever we experience the most resistance, either internal or external, to a shift we want to make, that is where we have the greatest growth opportunity.” To facilitate making a major “shift,” the author details a process called “Twelve Stages of Transformative Shift,” borrowed from the workshops she conducts. The stages are lucidly explained in individual chapters, each ending with immersive exercises readers are asked to complete. Such stages as “Surrender,” “Get Clarity,” and “Get Uncomfortable” are not necessarily for the faint of heart, but Ruth is a sensitive, positive instructor whose writing is both inspirational and practical. The text is augmented by examples from her own life and coaching practice. She exhorts readers to work tirelessly on their own behalf, urging them to “learn to trust the fire within” and advising that “there is really no greater freedom or power than realizing we always have choices, and we get to take the responsibility for making them.” Throughout the book, the author offers helpful tools and techniques as well as insightful observations and counsel. For example, “Five Power Questions”—which include “How does this align with my values?” and “How am I owning this decision?”—are designed to encourage deep introspection. The author’s “three basic reasons to make a shift…greater freedom, power, or passion—or perhaps some combination of the three” provoke considerable reflection. Ruth’s belief that “shifting becomes real and sustainable when we see ourselves differently, from the inside out” is a cleareyed assessment of what a major change truly implies. The volume features a fair amount of motivational psychology intermingled with spirituality that makes for engaging content. While it will take a concerted effort by readers to participate in the process proposed by the author, this work is a commendable blueprint for learning how to shift.
Inspirational and uplifting; a thorough guide to making a change.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-99-951563-1
Page Count: 185
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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