Book Review (of sorts)
Recently finished Lost Connections by Johann Hari.
After reading Chasing the Scream and it having such a changing effect on my views around drug use and reform I was looking forward to this book.
In short:
I really enjoyed the book, it got better as it got along. It felt as though we (the reader and author) were on the same journey through conversation and discovery.
- I think this book holds some very good insights into alleviating and freeing oneself from depression.
- I like how it re-frames depression as not an affliction of the individual but of society at large. This, I think, is one of the most important aspects of the book.
- That is critiques our work-life culture so effectively, we work too hard, have too little control in our work opens up paths to change and our home-life is increasingly prioritising 'junk-values' offers a path to change.
- That it offers concrete and practical changes to lifestyle that can be implemented by many is excellent.
When the book was initially released, I read the furore online of people who were defending the use of drugs to treat depression and saying the book (which they almost certainly had not read) was trying to diminish the beneficial effects of drugs on their lives. This proves to not be the case in the book at all. The re-connections, which include re-introduction to nature, more meaningful work and a change of value structure, among several others, are additive to and provide a base.
To me, the book proved to be far more interesting and once started I quickly worked my way through it. I think it's left a positive impression in my own life.
Lost Connections
ISBN – 9781408878729
Alternative stores: https://thelostconnections.com/buy-the-book/
Chasing the Scream
ISBN – 9781408857823
Alternative stores: https://chasingthescream.com/buy-the-book/