The loss of sadness : how psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder / Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Foreword / Robert L. Spitzer -- The concept of depression -- The anatomy of normal sadness -- Sadness with and without cause : depression from ancient times through the nineteenth century -- Depression in the twentieth century -- Depression in the DSM-IV -- Importing pathology into the community -- The surveillance of sadness -- The DSM and biological research about depression -- The rise of antidepressant drug treatments -- The failure of the social sciences to distinguish sadness from depressive disorder -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index.

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Depression has become the single most commonly treated mental disorder, amid claims that one out of ten Americans suffer from this disorder every year and 25% succumb at some point in their lives. Warnings that depressive disorder is a leading cause of worldwide disability have been accompanied by a massive upsurge in the consumption of antidepressant medication, widespread screening for depression in clinics and schools, and a push to diagnose depression early, on the basis of just a few symptoms, in order to prevent more severe conditions from developing. In this book the authors argue that, while depressive disorder certainly exists and can be a devastating condition warranting medical attention, the apparent epidemic in fact reflects the way the psychiatric profession has understood and reclassified normal human sadness as largely an abnormal experience. In telling the story behind this phenomenon, the authors draw on the 2,500-year history of writing about depression, including studies in both the medical and social sciences, to demonstrate why the DSM's diagnosis is so flawed. They also explore why it has achieved almost unshakable currency despite its limitations. Framed within an evolutionary account of human health and disease, the book presents a dissection of depression as both a normal and disordered human emotion and a critique of current psychiatric diagnostic practices. The result is a challenge to the diagnostic revolution that began almost thirty years ago in psychiatry and an analysis of one of the most significant mental health issues today. -- From book jacket.

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