What is depression? Is it a persistent low mood or a complex range of symptoms? Is it a single diagnosis or a diversity of mental disorders requiring different treatments? In A Cure for Darkness, science writer Alex Riley explores these questions, digging into the long history of depression and chronicling the lives of psychiatrists and scientists who sought cures for their patients.

part 1. Cutting steps into the mountain: The anatomists ; Über Coca ; "Psychiatry's Linnaeus" ; A melancholic humor ; Instruments of cure ; The talking cure ; Love and hate ; A first sketch -- part 2. "The biological approach seems to be working": Fighting fire with fire ; Unfixing thoughts ; "The brain has ceased to be sacred" ; The most powerful reaction ; Legacy ; Cerletti's monster ; The psychic energizers ; The shoes that Prozac would fill ; G22355 ; The mysterious case of the lethal headaches -- part 3. Getting therapy: In your dreams, Freud ; More than one psychotherapy ; "If mom ain't happy ain't nobody happy" ; "Happier than we Europeans" ; Kufungisisa ; Care by the community ; "I live and breathe peer" -- part 4. The universe within: It feels like spring ; Rebirth ; The epitome of hopelessness ; Mind on fire ; "For life" ; The beginning ; Surfing in the brain scanner ; "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" ; Building a new system ; Seeing with eyes shut -- Epilogue: New life.