• A Cure for Darkness

  • The Story of Depression and How We Treat It
  • By: Alex Riley
  • Narrated by: Alex Riley
  • Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)

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A Cure for Darkness  By  cover art

A Cure for Darkness

By: Alex Riley
Narrated by: Alex Riley
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Publisher's summary

A fascinating, “rich, and generous” (Financial Times) look at the treatment of depression by an award-winning science writer that blends popular science, narrative history, and memoir.

Is depression a persistent low mood, or is it a range of symptoms? Can it be expressed through a single diagnosis, or does depression actually refer to a diversity of mental disorders? Is there, or will there ever be, a cure? In seeking the answers to these questions, Riley finds a rich history of ideas and treatments - and takes the reader on a gripping narrative journey, packed with fascinating stories like the junior doctor who discovered that some of the first antidepressants had a deadly reaction with cheese.

“Interweaving memoir, case histories, and accounts of new therapies, Riley anatomizes what is still a fairly young science, and a troubled one” (The New Yorker). Reporting on the field of global mental health from its colonial past to the present day, Riley highlights a range of scalable therapies, including how a group of grandmothers stands on the frontline of a mental health revolution.

Hopeful, fascinating, and profound, A Cure for Darkness is “recommended reading for anyone with even a peripheral interest in depression” (Washington Examiner).

©2021 Alex Riley. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Penguin Audio. All rights reserved.

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