I hated the Noonday Demon from the start because of the introduction in which Solomon acknowledges that his Daddy's pharmaceutical company, Forest, started making anti-depressants in response to his battle with depression at Yale. The anti-depressant they produced was Celexa. The anti-depressant that caused me to tie shoelaces around my neck on Easter Sunday and slice up my body was Celexa. I don't want to hear about how great medical advancements are in the field of depression. I don't want to hear about how grateful I should be to Solomon's father and other wealthy, white male researchers who profit off of the misery of the downtrodden, and fail to disclose the truth when their "cures" illicit only more misery.

I thought that was one of the worst puff pieces I have ever laid eyes on. His main idea may have been to encourage depression centers, but he came off to me sounding a lot like a drug rep. The fact that he refers throughout his writing to people with depression as "depressive" is a bad start -- who the hell wants to be called a depressive? Then his talk about how wonderful all the SSRI's are; hey, who cares about the massive evidence base showing them to be of virtually no benefit over the older meds and also only about 20% better than a placebo? I rambled on more about it at my site if anyone's interested. It's not good that drug-pushing pieces like this are published in the New York Times.
Thanks for putting up a link; otherwise I would have missed Solomon's essay.

What does his being rich have to do with the merit of his book (which I found to be an excellent personal account on his struggle with the illness). I ask as that is the only reason you cite for not liking the book.

Also, I have been on Celexa and it helped me more than anything else. Which is to say that anti-depressants work for some and don't for others. There must be an equal number of patients out there who are thankful that these meds exist today.

I'm amazed at how the previous commentors feel they have a right to launch ad hominem attacks on Solomon solely based on what his father does for a living!

Masale- I'd like to respond to some of the things you've said. 1) I'm glad Celexa worked for you/saved your life/ect. I really dislike the oft-repeated "some meds work for some people and others don't" because I think there is quite a difference between a med "not working for some people" and that med being the catalyst to suicide. i don't mean to imply that anti-depressants aren't useful to some people. i just don't think they work well enough for enough people to justify the lack of honest information and research out there about them.
2) In the case of Solomon's book, I think his father's profession is extremely important. His father is in the industry which makes a lot of money off the misery of others. Solomon wrote a book chronicling that misery, asserting throughout the book that the depressives he'd met had all been helped by anti-depressants. I don't find his position free of bias, and don't consider the children of Oil or tobacco execs the individuals we should be getting our info lauding those fields from either. Also, regarding Solomon's wealth: it has nothing to do with the merit of his book. His father's ties to an industry which stands to profit from his self-indulgent tome does. Also, there are millions of Americans who allegedly suffer from depression. Most are not extremely wealthy. Many people have financial difficulties which contribute to their anxiety and depression, not to mention their access to decent healthcare and therapy sessions. I find Solomon, as the public voice of "depressives", hopelessly inadequate in such regards.