Depression took over the world. 150 years ago, the word "depression" described only a pessimistic mood. However, in the middle of the 20th century, as European empires collapsed, new Western clinical models and treatments for mental health spread around the world. Today, every 25th inhabitant of our planet is diagnosed with depression. Revealing the continuity of human suffering throughout the story, psychiatrist Jonathan Sadowski shows how different cultures described intense heartache and how they tried to alleviate it. A number of treatments, both ancient and modern, do reduce suffering, but a definitive cure is not yet achievable. This book attempts to bring together all the most important information about depression and identify key phenomena that will help to comprehend the scale of the epidemic and suggest possible ways to defeat it.