Redefining Depression as Mere Sadness

Authors of “The Loss of Sadness” argue doctors are directed to ignore the context of the patient’s complaints and focus only on symptoms — poor appetite, insomnia, low energy, hopelessness and so on. The current criteria for major depression, they say, largely fails to distinguish between “abnormal” reactions caused by “internal dysfunction” and “normal sadness” brought on by external circumstances. And they blame vested interests — doctors, researchers, pharmaceutical companies — for fostering this bloated concept of depression.

What? Western doctors under-evaluating and over-prescribing patients? Unheard of.