What really causes depression and anxiety - and how can we really solve them? Award-winning journalist Johann Hari suffered from depression since he was a child and started taking anti-depressants when he was a teenager. He was told that his problems were caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, trained in the social sciences, he began to investigate whether this was true - and he learned that almost everything we have been told about depression and anxiety is wrong.

Across the world, Hari found social scientists who were uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains. In fact, they are largely caused by key problems with the way we live today. Haris journey took him from a mind-blowing series of experiments in Baltimore, to an Amish community in Indiana, to an uprising in Berlin. Once he had uncovered nine real causes of depression and anxiety, they led him to scientists who are discovering seven very different solutions - ones that work.

It is an epic journey that will change how we think about one of the biggest crises in our culture today. His TED talk - 'Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong' - has been viewed more than 8 million times and revolutionized the global debate. This book will do the same.

Reviews

“A compassionate, common-sense approach to depression and anxiety … His book brings with it an urgency and rigour that will, with luck, encourage the authorities to sit up and take note” – Fiona Sturges, Guardian

“Wise, probing and deeply generous Hari has produced a book packed with explosive revelations about our epidemic of despair ... I am utterly convinced that the more people read this book, the better off the world will be” – Naomi Klein

“This is an astonishing book, that transforms our understanding of one of the crucial issues of our times. Johann Hari asks the big questions and provides the big answers– answers that have been neglected for far too long. You cannot fully understand this great curse of our age until you have read it” – George Monbiot

“Extraordinary ... A highly personal book, written with humility, humour and candour, it nonetheless heralds a crucial new discussion about our mental health - and health of the world we've created for ourselves … I honestly couldn't put it down. What a stunningpiece of work” – Brian Eno

“A brilliant, stimulating, radical take on mental health” – Matt Haig

“Lost Connections offers a wonderful and incisive analysis of the depression and alienation that are haunting American society” – Hillary Rodham Clinton

About the Author

Johann Eduard Hari is a New York Times best-selling author. His book Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days on 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.