This was an informative, very readable book. I would recommend this title to someone trying to more fully understand their own depression or a person who is trying to understand the mental illness of their loved one.

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley.

The length in which it took me to finish this book should indicate that this was challenging for me to get through. However, I found it insightful and full of historical and detailed information about mental health, particularly depression, and all the treatments studied over the past years.

When I first requested this book, I thought I was getting more of a memoir approach to depression. However, it is more of a historical textbook transpiring the years studying depression. What works, what does not, how does it happen, and what medications have been fruitful. The author discusses his own experiences with different SSRIs, which I related to, and I think it was also something that helped me connect with the author more.

I liked learning about the different treatments (past, present, and future) and was excited to learn more about psychedelics to treat depression. Throughout the book, the author makes it clear, through no opinion, just facts, that depression and mental health is very complex. There is not a "quick fix" or a "one size fits all" solution. I found that it gave me validation as I struggle with anxiety and depression. It is complicated, it takes time, and I am not alone.

I also liked the discussion between inflammation and depression. I enjoyed seeing that what my doctors say about eating right and exercising is based on scientific evidence (why I didn't think so before is asinine). It was never fully explained, just that "it's good for you and will help with anxiety and depression." That was extremely helpful for me.

I will note for those looking for a self-help book; this is not it. As others have said, it definitely leans more textbook. I enjoyed it from the scientific and historical aspects. If you are interested in more factual and data-driven information on depression, then I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As a person with depression and anxiety issues myself, it is interesting (and at times upsetting) to read about the history of treatments for depression. It's useful to know the background of many therapies to better assess which ones will suit an individual, and to weigh the pros and cons. Understanding why one medication gets pushed over others, why one treatment falls from favor, and so on. Though the section on lobotomies is sometimes uncomfortably detailed, I appreciated the thoroughness.

This book is informative and useful to facilitate learning more about depression. The author enlightened readers through personal experience in dealing with taking medication and experimenting with stopping medication to resume life with the side effects of medication.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I love reading about the struggles of mental health and how to overcome them. I found this book difficult to digest, it had so much history in it, that I almost felt like I wasn't able to see through it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in psychology, medicine or history, but it was not the leisure book I was looking for.



I just reviewed A Cure for Darkness by Alex Riley. #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, this book truly helped me understand my struggles so much more.
I was honestly impressed with this book and would gladly read others by this author.

I express my gratitude both to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e-copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I was eager to read “A Cure For Darkness” by Alex Riley. An estimated 322 million people worldwide are living with depression. While the most common mental health diagnosis, there is still much to be learned about this illness. Riley’s exploration is not meant to be an introduction to depression and the fields of treatment but is, instead, a deep dive into many considerations. He weaves his own experiences throughout the book but also relies heavily on scientific research and treatments. If the reader is looking for a definitintive solution to depression, this is not to be found within these pages, as it doesn’t exist. Riley approaches the subject as journalist and not a medical or psychological practitioner. However, sometimes the best content comes from outside the field.

I recommend “A Cure For Darkness” to professionals in the field looking to have a deeper understanding of the disease and treatment trends and options. For the American reader, it is noteworthy that Riley lives in Europe and some of the treatments he mentions are not readily available in the states. My only complaint with this book is that it doesn’t explore cultural expressions of depression as much as I would have liked. For that reason, I prefer “Noonday Demon” as a resource on depression but this is a clear companion option.

Readers looking for a fluffy self-help book need not apply. A Cure for Darkness is for readers seeking an in-depth history of how the field of mental health and depression came to be recognized by society. As a clinical psychologist, I found Riley's historical account of depression fascinating and inspiring. He paints the major players in mental health with beautiful color and depth to their lives, which brings much-needed personality to an otherwise dry topic. Riley leaves his opinions off the page and allows the reader to make up their own mind as to the ethics of certain figures and events.

More research-based than pop-culture psychology and more engaging than a textbook, A Cure for Darkness is not meant to be a 'how-to' or memoir of the author's self-disclosed treatment of depression. I predict that this text will become required (or at least recommended) reading at many graduate mental health programs in the very near future. It is the best mainstream text of psychological literature I've read in a while, but again, I'm pretty biased as a clinical psychologist.

This book was not what I expected. It had a textboook vibe, more informational and than a memoir. It needed more of a memoir feel. This book is great for someone who knows almost nothing about the history of depression./mental health.
I do appreciate the small cultural piece that was in the book.

Depression and mental health are broad and it was great that the author took this approach . Maybe this book wasn’t for me ...

I had high hopes of insight into depression and maybe enlightenment of my struggles in the past, even a tidbit to take away to help guide or assist others with this oppressive illness. This book was more like a textbook on the history and hit and miss treatments over the years by professionals. Some extremely dangerous. Some successful. I did learn a lot but it wasn’t what I was looking for. I came to understand how far reaching this illness is and the vast volume of people who suffer from it. The professionals struggle to understand how depression differs from one person to the next and is to this day still being explored.
I made it through, (it’s not a book to breeze through) however, I’m glad I read it for a new understanding of how relatively new many treatments and medications really are. A new understanding that there is not one fix all answer, it’s a constantly evolving quest to help with differing theories and methods. I’m impressed with the research Mr. Riley needed to do to write this even during his own daily oppressive struggle with depression. The ups and downs, the search, for answers, and now the reason to keep fighting through this illness.
Thank you NetGalley, Alex Riley and Simon & Schuster publishers for allowing me to read this eARC this is my honest opinion.

When I saw this book by Alex Riley, it looked like something that would be super interesting; and it was! I'm not sure exactly who the intended audience is for this book - it isn't really solution based, but it is filled with a ton of very interesting information.

Riley begins the book by giving a lengthy history of depression treatments, mental health and psychotherapy (Freud, anyone?). I'm not sure if everyone will be as fascinated by this as me, but I'm a therapist so maybe not!

Riley talks about his own struggle with depression and the things that he has tried, but also goes into the myriad treatments that are out there for this disease. He talks about the differences between anti-depresssants (MAO inhibitors, SSRIs and tricyclics) and why some might work better for different people. He gives a history of ECT, which has gotten a bad name, but has been very effective historically for depression.

The most fascinating part of the book to me (and something that I really didn't know, but should have!) is the connection between inflammation and depression. There is a clear connection between inflammation in the body and depression, so lowering your inflammation might help you more than anti-depressants will. Following a Mediterranean diet (which lowers inflammation) and not drinking alcohol (which raises inflammation) are places you can start. Also, intense exercise can raise inflammation, whereas moderate exercise 3 days a week might help.

Lastly, he talks about psychedelics and ketamine, and the new research about how it might be helpful. This is a really fascinating book and a must-read for anyone who wants to know more in general about depression.

A CURE FOR DARKNESS
BY ALEX RILEY

The reason that I requested this was to learn and better understand depression, the best treatments for it, what if the treatments don't work and finally what is on the horizon for treatments scientifically or cutting edge. My oldest son who is 22 started to have a low grade depression and was seeing a psychologist. He didn't want to take antidepressants and wanted to work through it on his own utilizing exercise and a positive out look and solving it on his own. I thought by reading this I might learn something that I could talk to him about or at least understand what causes it.

I was extremely disappointed that this book was not for me. It is very dense and starts out talking about Freud dissecting eels for testes. It slowly chronicles the historical dating back to the 1800's.
I definitely think the author's audience is for a more scholarly background in such details that weren't helpful to me. I don't feel like it is accessible to the average reader as it records a lot of historical facts.



The author, Alex Riley suffers from depression and in the very beginning he talks about going off his antidepressants. He is taking SSRI inhibitors which I understood and talks about the regimen of those along with talk therapy being what is commonly prescribed today. He mentions in the past using ECT. That I understood. I really think that this book could be so much more helpful to the everyday lay person if he didn't pack this with so much minutia about every single historical detail. I was hoping that this would be made to be much more accessible to people who just want to learn about how to be helpful and aren't clinicians which in my opinion is a better target audience for this book. I did learn that this can affect as many as 322,000,000 people today in the world. Also that fifteen percent of those who don't seek treatment are likely to be suicides. This just wasn't for me.

I did find the research of Mayberg quite fascinating in which using PET scans and volunteers. "When subjects were asked to think of a sad experience in their past area 25 which is mapped in the brain lit up like a beacon in the center of the healthy volunteer's brains. The prefrontal cortex where rational thought takes place didn't display anything and appeared to switch off. This pertains to a famous paper she published in 1993, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. This famous study revealed when they stopped thinking about this sad experience, the brain returned to its previous state. Area 25 quietened. In people experiencing depression this same pattern was only achieved with taking an antidepressant. Mayberg reasoned that perhaps people who were depressed were stuck and they couldn't switch off this "sadness center." It kept on firing and firing. With such a bombardment of painful signals, the circuitry within the brain starts to take on a different shape. Pieces start to malfunction. Parts of the cortex are silenced and pushed out of practice. Even after slight disappointments, full-blown depression becomes like normal. The brain gets used to being in a disordered state that only the use of medication can help disentangle.. Mayberg was interested in the limbic system, which is where area 25 is a key component that connects regions of the prefrontal cortex which is the area involved with motivation, drive and rational thought with those more central parts of the brain that are crucial to memory and emotional regulation." There is much more research that she did but for the purposes of this review keeping brief I won't go into it all. I will end this by saying that her work led to questions such as: Are there distinct forms of depression? If so, might this explain why some people respond to certain treatments while others don't? Might data from brain scans be used to guide treatment? This is interesting and the first that I have heard of her research but I found enlightening. Because antidepressants and psychotherapy are trial and error. It is at this point in this book and onward that I began to find easier to relate too and my opinion changed more to it being accessible. There are probably those that will appreciate the earlier parts detailed since the 1700's but I didn't think it helpful for those that are familiar with biochemistry and it was a slog that I am grateful I kept reading to get to the more exciting cutting edge contemporary information.. The book got more and more fascinating with dealing with the last thirty years and onto the latest information regarding researcher's that actually have useful experiments that relate to depression and I apologize for not wanting to read about the 1700's, 1800's and experiments that while a doctor may enjoy, personally I found read like a textbook and I was afraid of that. I was initially skeptical about requesting this because I don't want to read a textbook. I want to read contemporary experiments that are useful. for me being able to appreciate. I do applaud the author for his efforts and wish him every best wish for success and for having the talent to write a book while experiencing depression. That is a huge accomplishment.

Publication Datec: April 13, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Alex Riley and Scribner for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#ACureforDarkness #AlexRiley #Scribner #NetGalley