A radical new way of thinking about depression and anxiety.
When Johann Hari was a teenager, he was prescribed antidepressants. Having suffered from depression his entire life, he was told that he had a ‘chemical imbalance’ in his brain, and that medication was the answer.
As an adult, and trained in the social sciences, Johann began to question the medically acknowledged truth, that his mental illness was purely chemical. He wasn’t alone in doing so. Across the world, Johann found social scientists who were uncovering evidence to support the fact that anxiety and depression are not just the result of a chemical imbalance but that the problematic way in which we live today also plays a role.
Lost Connections is a ground-breaking exploration of modern times and modern minds by New York Times bestselling author Johann Hari. An incredibly important piece of work, it strives to challenge how we think about one of the biggest crises in our culture today. Travelling the world in search of answers, Johann’s research led him to Baltimore, an Amish community in Indiana, and an uprising in Berlin, to uncover nine alternative causes of depression and anxiety. The book not only explores the origins of these illnesses, but also provides in-depth solutions to overcoming and learning to manage them.
Mental health is not only a complex and controversial subject, it is also one of the most pressing issues of our time. Johann’s exploration is remarkable, and may help your understanding of how much the chaotic world we live in is affecting us.
About the Author:
Johann Hari is a New York Times best-selling author. His book ‘Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days 
of the War on Drugs’ has been translated into 15 languages and is currently being adapted into a major Hollywood film, and into a non-fiction documentary series.
He is one of the most-viewed TED talkers of all time: his talk, ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong’, has (along with the animation based on it) been viewed more than 20 million times.
He has written over the past seven years for some of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Spectator, Le Monde Diplomatique, the Melbourne Age, and Politico. He has also appeared on leading TV shows, including HBO’s Realtime With Bill Maher.
He was twice named ‘National Newspaper Journalist of the Year’ by Amnesty International. He has also been named ‘Cultural Commentator of the Year’ and ‘Environmental Commentator of the Year’ at the Comment Awards.
He lives half the year in London, and spends the other half of the year traveling to research his books.
Leave a Reply