Andrew Solomon

Solomon is the book's author. Throughout the book, Solomon includes stories of his own bouts with depression, various breakdowns, medications and alternative treatments, to give the reader a fuller sense of understanding and also giving himself more credibility when he speaks on the subject of mental illness. In these stories, Solomon becomes a character in the book himself and the reader goes through his depression with him as he describes it in vivid detail. He experiences three separate breakdowns in the "Breakdowns" section and is prescribed a variety of medications. In each of the sections that applies to him, Solomon uses his own personal experience as an example. He describes his own experience with depression, his three breakdowns, the treatments he received, his own experiences receiving alternative treatments as research for the book and his views and experiences with addiction and suicide. Although Solomon's book is primarily...