I had mixed feelings about this book. It definitely started out on a strong note. Solomon's prose is a combination of well-integrated research and powerfully poetic lines detailing his own and others' journeys with depression. One of the first people we meet is a Cambodian woman Phaly whose story is gut-wrenching and her methods for recovery equally fascinating. Solomon continues the first half of the book in the manner of weaving his life with research on depression and bringing up individuals who highlight similar and unique experiences. Solomon also raises important philosophical and ethical questions concerning suicide, accessibility to medicine, alternatives to medication, and the clinicalization of emotions.

However, then the second half of the book happens and Solomon's writing unravels more and more. His attempts at weaving research, personal experience, anecdotes, and philosophy falls apart by his inability to synthesize information in a concise manner; some paragraphs were nothing but direct quote after direct quote. Solomon also finds himself at odds with his own statements; for example, he made a point that measurements of serotonin alone are inaccurate in predicting and solving depression, yet he uses statistics involving serotonin levels to make his points. He also begins to place himself in the context of a medical professional, which is dangerous, since he is not. For example, he consistently lauds ECT as the best solution for treatment resistant depression despite showing multiple individuals who have had memory difficulties during the process as well as lack of improvement, and he himself has not undergone ECT. Solomon repeatedly chimes in with his own opinions on how different individuals should be pursuring medication treatment, but he is not qualified to make those statements.

Solomon also fails to tell readers how the updated 2011 version of his book differs from the 2001 book, making readers question the statistics in the book. I also noticed that Solomon very much excluded discussing rates of depression in transgender individuals while discussing depression among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Solomon himself struggles with capturing the reality of how marginalized groups exist, since he comes from such a place of privilege, so he often makes statements that feel stereotypical. His trip to Africa is absolutely the definition of ethnotourism and his account of it otherizes African medicine as backwards and rooted in superstition and rituals.

Overall, this book did not need to be as lengthy. For every strong point he had, Solomon had pages of haphazardly connected quotes and even more pages glorying in his own depression and how it has made him so "unique."