Depression and Globalization The Politics of Mental Health in the 21st Century

From the reviews:

"This book is a personal treatise of depression and its relation to political and social events, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States since the late 1970s and early 1980s. … This book might appeal to those interested in the history of mental illness (mainly depression) and its relation to global events, including sociopolitical changes occurring constantly throughout the world." (Steven T. Herron, Doody’s Review Service, April, 2008)

"According to Walker … the neo-liberal economic policies that emerged in the 1980s and dominate the global market today have had a profound effect on the increase of depressive disorders in the US and the UK.

"One measure of a book is its effect on the reader's outlook. Although Depression and Globalization obliquely addresses clinical depression, I found while reading it that I began to listen to depressed patients differently. I felt newly attuned to the alienating effects of consumerist society on their lives, on its disruption of their family and social lives." (John C. Markowitz, MD, JAMA, November 5, 2008-Vol. 300, NO. 17)