The New York Times bestseller from the author of Chasing the Scream , offering a radical new way of thinking about depression and anxiety.

**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 antidepressants 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. Hari's 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 eight million times and revolutionized the global debate. This book will do the same. **

Review

“ Lost Connections offers a wonderful and incisive analysis of the depression and alienation that are haunting American society.” ― Hillary Rodham Clinton “If you have ever been down, or felt lost, this amazing book will change your life. Do yourself a favour--read it now.” ― Elton John “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 a bold and inspiring book that will help far more than just those who suffer from depression. As Hari shows, we all have within us the potential to live in ways that are healthier and wiser.” ― Arianna Huffington “Through a breath-taking journey across the world, Johann Hari exposes us to extraordinary people and concepts that will change the way we see depression forever. It is a brave, moving, brilliant, simple and earth-shattering book that must be read by everyone and anyone who is longing for a life of meaning and connection.” ― Eve Ensler, author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES “This is one of those extraordinary books that you want all your friends to read immediately--because the shift in world-view is so compelling and dramatic that you wonder how you'll be able to have conversations with them otherwise.” ― Brian Eno “One of the world's most important and most enlightening thinkers and social critics.” ― Glenn Greenwald, winner of the Pulitzer Prize “Johann Hari is again getting people to think differently about our mood, our minds and our drug use, and that is something we need a lot more of.” ― Bill Maher “Depression and anxiety are the maladies of our time, but not for the reasons you think . . . An important diagnosis from one of the ablest journalists writing in the English language today.” ― Thomas Frank, author of WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS “Eye-opening, highly detailed . . . The book is part personal odyssey, in which Hari gets to grips with the flaws in his own treatment, and part scholarly reflection, where he sifts through the varying perspectives of scientists, psychologists and people with depression . . . Hari is clear about the difficulties of the task ahead and, in offering new ways of thinking, presents not surefire solutions but, he says, 'an alternative direction of travel' . . . 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.” ― Guardian, "Book of the Day, 17 January 2018" “A bold call for a complete re-evaluation of what is causing the western epidemic of mental illness.” ― Sunday Times “Brilliant.” ― Mail on Sunday “This book has a great deal to offer. Lost Connections isn't as much about science and mental health as it is about society, and the stories we tell around mental illness . . . This book's value lies in its attempt to change the stories we tell about the depressed and anxious, and perhaps help some of those suffering change how they think about themselves.” ― Independent “ Lost Connections is a fascinating look at what causes people to be depressed.” ― Fast Company “This well-written and well-documented book offers a powerful argument against the pharmacological treatment of depression and raises some provocative arguments. Highly recommended.” ― Library Journal “Salient and timely.” ― Irish Times “His comprehensible and penetrating study features extensive research and interviews with everyone from leading scientists and medics to members of the Amish community.” ― Irish Examiner “You might think Lost Connections is a self-help title but in reality it's a book that aims to change society, not individuals . . . Lost Connections is an important and controversial book because it asks questions about the biggest problems we have in the world.” ― Attitude Magazine “Thought-provoking . . . His comprehensible and penetrating study features extensive research and interviews with everyone from leading scientists and medics to members of the Amish community. This heartening book reveals the mutual social benefits of reconnecting with others and helping them to help yourself. *” ― Western Mail “[Hari] takes a big, controversial subject, surrounded by strong opinions and taboos, covers it on a global canvas through diligent research and extensive human interaction, and reaches a clear and broadly compelling conclusion.” ― Literary Review

About the Author

Johann Hari is the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream. He was a columnist for the Independent in London for nine years and was twice named Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International UK. He has written for the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , Slate , Le Monde , and others.