|
American
Melancholy
Price: $42.95
Subtitle: Constructions of
Depression in the Twentieth Century
Author:
Laura D. Hirshbein
Subject: Medicine, Psychiatry,
Women's
Studies
Cloth
ISBN: 978-0-8135-4584-4
Pages: 224 pages
Publication Date: September 2009
Series:
Critical
Issues
in Health and Medicine
Praise for American
Melancholy
"Laura Hirshbein's
analysis of the explosive growth of depression in American society,
psychiatry, and pharmacology emphasizes the overlapping roles of the
medicalization and commercialization of mental states; the contemporary
hyper-consumerist American's habits; the quest of psychiatric
communities for professional and scientific security; and the drive,
relentless and resourceful, by global pharmaceutical companies for new
markets. This book is likely to be regarded eventually as the finest
and most in-depth account around of gender and depression."—Mark S. Micale, department of history, University of
Illinois
"Laura Hirshbein demonstrates that
the modern diagnosis of depression is only a recent creation and
reveals more about our society and culture than our mental states. In
tracing the manner in which depression entered medical diagnostic
systems, she has made a major contribution that should force us to
question claims about the pervasive nature of this diagnosis.—Gerald
N.
Grob, the Henry E. Sigerist Professor of the History of Medicine
Emeritus at Rutgers University"
"American
Melancholy provides new insight into a diagnostic category that
has become central not only to modern psychiatry but also to the very
definition of ordinary life in late twentieth-century America. Perhaps
its greatest contribution lies in Hirshbein’s careful attention to the
role of gender in shaping the conception and treatment of depression."—Nancy Tomes, author of Madness in America
"Hirshbein
illustrates
how and why depression became a medical, social, and
cultural phenomenon. In paying careful attention to the role of gender
in shaping the conception and treatment of depression, Hirshbein adds a
new component to the literature on and understanding of depression.
Highly recommended."—Choice
Feb 2010
"An interesting,
useful, and exceptionally readable review of the evolution of the idea
of depression as a diagnosis in the United States."—Journal
of the American Medical Association
Description:
As
American
Melancholy reveals, if you read about depression anywhere
today—medical journal, popular magazine, National Institute of Mental
Health pamphlet, or pharmaceutical company drug promotional
literature—you will find three main pieces of information either
explicitly stated or strongly implied: depression is a disease (like
any other physical disease); it is extraordinarily prevalent in the
world; and it occurs about twice as frequently in women as in men. Yet,
depression was not classified as a disease until the 1980 publication
of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III
(DSM-III). How is it that such an illness, thought to affect
between 14 and 17 million Americans, was not specifically defined until
the late twentieth century?
American
Melancholy traces the growth of depression as an object of
medical study and as a consumer commodity and illustrates how and why
depression came to be such a huge medical, social, and cultural
phenomenon. It is the first book to address gender issues in the
construction of depression, explores key questions of how its diagnosis
was developed, how it has been used, and how we should question its
application in American society.
About the Author:
Laura D. Hirshbein is a
practicing clinical
psychiatrist and medical historian at the University of Michigan.
Receive
special offers and book notices by email. Sign up for RU READING?
Price: $42.95
|
