Mending the Mind

Critics Review

• Oliver Kamm’s urbanity, erudition and compassion are raised to the power of two in Mending the Mind. He put them to work in crafting this gorgeous and urgent book, and on every page they remind us of his moral that enviable gifts are no protection against the affliction of depression

  STEVEN PINKER, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of HOW THE MIND WORKS

• With startling openness and honesty, but without angling for sympathy, Kamm describes his symptoms . . . Kamm’s overall message is that despite the utter grimness of those symptoms, sufferers should remain optimistic . . . Mending the Mind reminds us that, despite our hazy understanding of depression, and despite the true horror of the illness, some hope for recovery remains

  THE TIMES

• A tour de force that is not just personal, but looks at depression through science, art, literature and history. The combination makes it an important, affecting and effective book

  ALASTAIR CAMPBELL

• The combination of Kamm’s up close and personal and investigative approaches together make this both useful and insightful. It’s also extremely intelligent, compassionate and well-written

  EVENING STANDARD

• There are lots of books on depression, but not many combine both an authentic and moving personal story with rigorous research and analysis. Kamm tackles the big questions on depression, and his answers are clear, unsentimental and compelling

  PROFESSOR SIR SIMON WESSELY, Regius Chair of Psychiatry, King's College London and Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Society of Medicine

• Uplifting . . . easy-to-read. The book covers all aspects of the illness, such as what causes it, medical treatment, psychological treatment, living with it and, finally, the end of it

  THE IRISH TIMES

• Mending the Mind elegantly combines a powerful personal story of experiencing and recovering from severe depressive illness with a wide-ranging overview of what depression means to artists and scientists, poets and practitioners. Oliver Kamm has succeeded in putting his lived experience here and now at the heart of an inclusive, broad-minded account of how depression has been understood and misunderstood, diagnosed and treated, over hundreds of years

  PROFESSOR EDWARD BULLMORE, Cambridge University, author of THE INFLAMED MIND

• This is a deeply personal and important book. It is painful but ultimately exhilarating to read. As Oliver Kamm notes, depression may be common but it is still not widely understood. At a time when isolation risks a heavy psychological toll, it deserves to be read more than ever

  ANDREW BAILEY, Governor of the Bank of England

• Oliver Kamm has the rare ability to combine emotional honesty with intellectual rigour. The result is a book that simultaneously breaks your heart and educates you as it brings light to one of the darkest corners of the human condition

  NICK COHEN, columnist for the Observer

• Mending the Mind is a brave and searingly honest personal account of depression that offers comfort and hope to those who have been afflicted by mental illness and valuable insight to those who have not. Kamm’s book is all the more vital because of the public health crisis we find ourselves in, and the toll it may take on our nation’s mental health

  BETH RIGBY, Political Editor, Sky News