メンタルヘルスの重要性が叫ばれるようになり、身近な病気となったものの、依然うつ病は謎の多い病気との印象を持つ人も少なくないようです。今や人口の15％が罹患し、若年層にも広がっています。うつ病は悲しく塞ぐ気持ちとどう異なるものなのでしょうか。脳内の「化学的不均衡」が原因とされていますが、実際のところどの化学物質が関与していて、どんな風にバランスを崩すとうつ病になるのでしょうか。撲滅に向けて研究や治療資源は増えているのに、なぜ患者は増え続けているのでしょうか。何がうつ病の蔓延に拍車をかけていて、それを食い止めるためには何が必要なのでしょうか。
本書はうつ病に悩む人はもとより、その家族や患者を支える医療従事者、そしてこの病気に関心を持つすべての一般読者に向けて、臨床科学、臨床実践、日常生活の架け橋となる、総合的で実用的な情報を提供するものです。うつ病の原因や拡大の背景について説明し、誤った認識を正し、誤解を解いて、治療の選択肢をめぐる混乱した現状を整理します。この病気に対処するにはどうすべきかを知る上で、欠かすことのできないガイドになっています。
    

• Synthesizes existing research on the causes and treatments of depression as well as what individuals can do to improve wellbeing
• Focuses on what is at the heart of depression - mood - and the factors that influence it
• Contains an extended discussion of life after depression, including new research on thriving after depression

   
A pithy, go-to guide for understanding both what we know about the causes of depression and what to do about it.
    
Depression now affects more than fifteen percent of the population, and it is striking people at younger and younger ages. Depression is all too familiar, yet it remains shrouded in mystery, confusion, and fear. What is depression, exactly? How is it different from sadness? It is said that depression is a "chemical imbalance" but what does that really mean? Which chemicals are involved, and how are they imbalanced? Why is it that just as more research and treatment resources are poured into combating depression, its personal and economic toll has actually grown? What is fueling the epidemic of depression? Is there anything that can be done to stop it?
   
Depression: What Everyone Needs to Know® cuts through the confusion around this often-debilitating illness to address the core of these and other matters. Jonathan Rottenberg offers a practical, reader-friendly synthesis that bridges clinical science, clinical practice, and everyday life. Written in the pithy, straightforward style of Oxford's What Everyone Needs to Know® series, this volume is the essential go-to guide both for understanding what we know about the causes of depression and the depression epidemic, and for learning what to do about it-including material on how to recognize depression in oneself, a family member, or a friend, and how to navigate life after depression. Written for all those who struggle with depression, their loved ones, mental health professionals, and the wider public, Depression: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers guidance for navigating the bewildering marketplace of treatment options while combatting the misinformation and myths that still surround this condition.