“In a lovely book with a lovely title, the young 37-year-old philosopher mixes the memory of his severe depression with the thoughts of Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, William Styron, and Emmanuel Carrère. He recounts a feeling of chronic inadequacy, with rare self-mockery and sincerity.” — Le Nouvel Obs

Depression is now considered by the World Health Organization to be “the leading cause of morbidity and disability worldwide.”

Depression kills—or rather, drives people to kill themselves—yet it is still often spoken of as an imaginary disorder, a narcissistic affliction, or a “luxury illness” typical of privileged Westerners. It is striking to note how little philosophy has engaged with depression in any substantial way.

Drawing from his own experience with depression, the author seeks to analyze this illness as a fully-fledged philosophical object in order to answer the fundamental question: what does it mean “to live” when one is depressed?

The term “depression” has become so commonplace that we forget its unbearable violence. In his book, the author Julien De Sanctis recounts his descent and reveals the profound philosophical dimension of this “total” state, which suffocates and engulfs both body and soul.