The Noonday Demon
by Andrew Solomon · first published 2001
69% recommend31% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Richly detailed, personal account of depression that captures the subjective experience and how it differs from ordinary low mood; recommended for anyone affected by it or wanting to understand it.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policy makers and politicians, drug designers, and philosophers, Andrew Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease as well as the reasons for hope. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications and treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations—around the world and throughout history. He als
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on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗…any other form of day to day depression which most people suffer. If you want a good description of how Clinical Depression varies wildly from 'rational depression,' read the Andrew Solomon's book The Noonday Demon. It's well written and, at least for me, expanded my perspective of how little I understood of severe depression. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Noonday_Demon:_An_Atlas_of_...
on “Aaron Swartz & A Culture of Denial: Depression & Suicide in Tech” ↗…surrounding that illness and the treatment. I think this stigma of mental illness is a huge problem in our country. To get to your point, according to Andrew Solomon's INCREDIBLE book about depression The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression there are only two things that have been proven to help with depression: medication and exercise. I would also suggest that you talk to a psychologist, I have found it incredibly…
on “Ask HN: Do you take anti-depressants?” ↗The Burnout Society, The Transparency Society by Byung-Chul Han Klara and the sun Project Hail Mary The Noonday Demon
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗…experience. It takes so long and so much effort to get out of a deep depression that it strains everyone around you. If anyone's gone through or is going through something similar, I highly recommend "The Noonday Demon." It captures much of the subjective experience of someone going through a depression, and how weird and frustrating the experience can be for everyone involved. https://www.amazon.com/Noonday-Demon-Atlas-Depression/dp/150...
on “Chris Seaton passed away on Dec 3rd” ↗…their own making. Others get thrown into the abyss by external factors. Grief, trauma, abuse, crises of repressed identity, poverty and poor prospects. Life can be brutal. I highly, highly recommend The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (Solomon) for anyone that is interested in a comprehensive view of depression.
on “Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows” ↗…observations. He will become a friend. It feels like suffocating now, but take time to breathe every day. It will seem like it takes forever. Administer to yourself. Another read, although far rougher is The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Amdrew Solomon. It's easy to read, but hard to feel the weight of Andrew and others perspectives. It can help you feel seen and heard. Start with the initial New Yorker article…
on “Ask HN: How to Be Alone?” ↗…prison at least once. Monasticism is even considered spiritually dangerous at times, and is linked to its own specific sin, Acedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acedia I recommend Kathleen Harris's The Noonday Demon for a good account of that. If anything, monastic life would destroy you if you suffered from depression, not heal you.
on “Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?” ↗The Noonday Demon. A beautiful book on depression. Heartbreaking and life-affirming in turns.
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗…reminds you that some people just might not ever be happy and it's not really their fault and that's hard in a culture which says "be happy" or "just do X and you'll be happy". I saw the article mentions Noonday Demon. I've never read it but a book that cites it and I personally found a depression classic is Lincoln's Melancholy. It is remarkable both how miserable he was and how far he drove himself because of or…
on “Depression Classic” ↗The author of this article, Andrew Solomon, wrote a book entitled The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression[1] that is based in part on his own struggles with depression. [1] http://andrewsolomon.com/books/the-noonday-demon/
on “Shameful Profiling of the Mentally Ill” ↗Thanks! We changed the URL to that from http://2016/jan/the-noonday-demon-by-andrew-solomon. Probably just a copy-paste slip-up.
on “The Noonday Demon” ↗I firmly believe that there are different kinds of depression. The kind of depression Christina Ricci has in 'Prozac Nation', or the author of 'Noonday Demon' has, is not the same thing, which a lot of people face on episodic level. The kind of depression you're talking about (which you incorrectly term as 'clinical depression') is exactly how you describe…
on “Does Depression Have an Evolutionary Purpose? (2017)” ↗