{"product_id":"the-weariness-of-the-self-alain-ehrenberg-9780773546486","title":"The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age","description":"Depression, once a subfield of neurosis, has become the most diagnosed mental disorder in the world. Why and how has depression become such a topical illness and what does it tell us about changing ideas of the individual and society? Alain Ehrenberg investigates the history of depression and depressive symptoms across twentieth-century psychiatry, showing that identifying depression is far more difficult than a simple diagnostic distinction between normal and pathological sadness - the one constant in the history of depression is its changing definition. Drawing on the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime devoted to the study of the individual in modern democratic society, Ehrenberg shows that the phenomenon of modern depression is not a construction of the pharmaceutical industry but a pathology arising from inadequacy in a social context where success is attributed to, and expected of, the autonomous individual. In so doing, he provides both a novel and convincing description of the illness that clarifies the intertwining relationship between its diagnostic history and changes in social norms and values. The first book to offer both a global sociological view of contemporary depression and a detailed description of psychiatric reasoning and its transformation - from the invention of electroshock therapy to mass consumption of Prozac - The Weariness of the Self offers a compelling exploration of depression as social fact.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alain Ehrenberg\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0773546480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780773546486\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e McGill-Queen's University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/14\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 378\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d","brand":"Alain Ehrenberg","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43926008627455,"sku":"9780773546486","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_d0d86da2-6ca3-48a0-ae40-3de3b14258dc.jpg?v=1681080659","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-weariness-of-the-self-alain-ehrenberg-9780773546486","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}