The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

Author: Andreea Găzdaru
Titu Maiorescu University, Bucharest, Romania
Email: andreea.gazdaru@gmail.com

Andrew Solomon is a writer on psychology, politics and culture. He is an activist in LGBT rights, mental health and art. Among other publications, he has written for The New York Times and The New Yorker and his book "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression" won the 2001 National Book Award and was also a finalist for Pulitzer Prize in 2002.

In his book, Solomon offers a wide perception on depression, describing his own personal love and hate relationship with it, also using other people’s testimonies on the subject and gathering a lot of well researched information.

Depression is known to be a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Its treatment today tends to be more of a pharmacological one, rather than a psychotherapeutic one. This approach raised a lot of controversial point of views and it is still a big question mark around it: is depression genetically inherited or is it influenced by the environment or by gender for example? Therefore, how can we best treat it?

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression is a wide overview on this affection; its roots, differences, evolution, treatment and a lot more information that helps filling in the blanks when it comes to this matter. His tender and moving approach on depression is maybe the missing component in understanding and treating it.


Keywords: depression