• Foreword, by Robert L. Spitzer


• 1. The Concept of Depression


• 2. The Anatomy of Normal Sadness


• 3. Sadness With and Without Cause: Depression From Ancient Times Through the Nineteenth Century


• 4. Depression in the Twentieth Century


• 5. Depression in the DSM-IV


• 6. Importing Pathology Into the Community


• 7. The Surveillance of Sadness


• 8. The DSM and Biological Research About Depression


• 9. The Rise of Antidepressant Drug Treatments


• 10. The Failure of the Social Sciences to Distinguish Sadness from Depressive Disorder


• 11. Conclusion


• Notes


• References


• Index

Allan V. Horwitz, PhD, is Board of Governors Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University. He is the author of numerous articles and books on various aspects of the sociology of mental illness including The Social Control of Mental Illness, Creating Mental Illness, and, with Jerome C. Wakefield, All We Have to Fear (forthcoming from Oxford University Press). He is the recipient of the Pearlin Award for lifetime Achievement in the Sociology of Mental Health from the American Sociological Association.
Jerome C. Wakefield, DSW, PhD, is University Professor and Professor of Social Work at New York University. His previous faculty appointments were at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Rutgers University. Holding doctorates in both Social Work and Philosophy, he has published many articles on the conceptual foundations of psychiatry.

Framed within an evolutionary account of human health and disease, The Loss of Sadness presents a fascinating dissection of depression as both a normal and disordered human emotion and a sweeping critique of current psychiatric diagnostic practices. The result is a potent challenge to the diagnostic revolution that began almost thirty years ago in psychiatry and a provocative analysis of one of the most significant mental health issues today.