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The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

Andrew Solomon examines depression in personal, cultural and scientific terms, drawing on his own illness and on interviews.

Andrew Solomon · 2001. First US edition: New York: Scribner, 2001 (Open Library catalog; one record gives 12 June 2001, and the UK edition from Chatto and Windus is dated 3 May 2001). A 2015 Simon & Schuster edition adds a major new chapter on recently introduced and novel treatments (author's page). The text grew from the author's 1998 New Yorker article on depression. Chronology section: 1990 to 2009.

Nonfiction: MemoirClinical or lived narrativeDisorders & diagnosisEmotion

Author and origin
Andrew Solomon (United States)Original language: English. First US edition: New York: Scribner, 2001 (Open Library catalog; one record gives 12 June 2001, and the UK edition from Chatto and Windus is dated 3 May 2001). A 2015 Simon & Schuster edition adds a major new chapter on recently introduced and novel treatments (author's page). The text grew from the author's 1998 New Yorker article on depression.
Genre and form
Nonfiction (Memoir)Memoirs, clinical case collections, popular psychology, self-help, and histories or critiques of psychological science.
Pairing and evidence
Clinical or lived narrativeA memoir or clinical case collection. Individual narratives are distinguished from systematic evidence; a paper is paired only where the connection is substantive.
Sources inspected
1 text/abstract inspected, 2 metadata checked (of 3)0 with the primary text or archive/edition record checked, 1 with an indexed abstract read, 2 with bibliographic metadata checked, 0 not verified.

Interpretive thematic pairingPaired academic work

Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Koretz, D., Merikangas, K. R., Rush, A. J., Walters, E. E., & Wang, P. S. (2003). The epidemiology of major depressive disorder. JAMA, 289(23), 3095. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.289.23.3095

Source independence: Independent of the book’s author.

How it connects: An independent population survey placed beside interview-based writing as an editorial contrast. Its abstract does not mention the book; the pairing does not test the book’s claims.

Exact claim scope: Scoped to the indexed abstract (read in full): face-to-face household survey, February 2001 to December 2002, 48 contiguous US states, N = 9,090 adults aged 18 or older, DSM-IV major depressive disorder measured with the WHO CIDI. Full paper not inspected.

The work and edition history

A 2001 book by Andrew Solomon that began as a 1998 New Yorker article. His page says it draws on his own struggles with depression and on interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors, scientists, policymakers, politicians, drug designers and philosophers, and that it takes up how to define the illness and the range of drug treatments. The 2015 edition adds a chapter on newer treatments, which was not read. The book itself was not read.

Psychological reading

Questions to bring: how do the personal, cultural and scientific accounts of depression each define it, and where do they disagree? In a book that mixes the author's own illness with interviews, which statements are testimony and which are evidence? What would a reader need to know about each interviewee to weigh what they say?

Why it earns inclusion

Shows depression discussed at several levels at once, from private experience to public policy (sections 15.7 and 16.2 are candidate links, not confirmed). It also gives students a concrete contrast between interview-based writing and survey measurement.

Academic pairing and claim scope

As an editorial contrast, a 2003 JAMA report describes the National Comorbidity Survey Replication: interviews with 9,090 US adults in 2001-2002. Its abstract reports lifetime major depressive disorder prevalence of 16.2 percent and 12-month prevalence of 6.6 percent. The survey’s sampling and diagnostic definitions provide a comparison with interview-based writing. Its abstract does not mention the book.

Limits and controversies

Interviews and a personal narrative cannot show how common depression is or which treatments work. The survey covers US household adults under one diagnostic system in 2001-2002; it does not test the book's claims or the newer treatments in the 2015 edition. Nothing here is clinical guidance.

Evidence behind the claims

  • The first US edition was published by Scribner, New York, in 2001; the UK edition from Chatto and Windus is dated 3 May 2001.

    Publication or textual factSource: [2]Where: Open Library work OL3457531W, editions OL7722229M (Scribner, 12 June 2001), OL23245499M (Scribner, 2001), OL7764526M (Chatto and Windus, 3 May 2001)Checked at reference-page level

  • The author's page says the book examines depression in personal, cultural and scientific terms, drawing on his own illness and interviews, grew from his 1998 New Yorker article, and has a 2015 Simon & Schuster edition with a new chapter on novel treatments.

    Publication or textual factSource: [1]Where: andrewsolomon.com book page, description and 2015 cover caption (the page does not state the first-publication year)Checked at reference-page level

  • In the NCS-R abstract (N = 9,090 US adults), Kessler and colleagues reported lifetime major depressive disorder prevalence of 16.2% and 12-month prevalence of 6.6%, with 59.3% of 12-month cases showing severe or very severe role impairment.

    Empirical study findingSource: [3]Where: Kessler et al. (2003), JAMA 289(23), 3095-3105, Europe PMC abstract, resultsChecked at abstract level

  • In the same abstract, 51.6% of 12-month cases received health care treatment for the disorder, treatment was adequate in 41.9% of those, and 21.7% of all 12-month cases were adequately treated.

    Empirical study findingSource: [3]Where: Kessler et al. (2003), Europe PMC abstract, treatment resultsChecked at abstract level

Authors and researchers

  • Andrew Solomon. Author; writes from his own experience of depression and from interviews.

In the Psy101 course

Educational reading guide only, not clinical diagnosis or treatment guidance. This course map indicates introductory curriculum relevance rather than clinical proof.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

Of 3 cited sources, 0 had primary text or archive/edition records checked, 1 had an indexed abstract read, and 2 had bibliographic metadata checked (0 unverified). Literary works and memoirs are distinguished from empirical research studies.

  1. [3]
    Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Koretz, D., Merikangas, K. R., Rush, A. J., Walters, E. E., & Wang, P. S. (2003). The epidemiology of major depressive disorder. JAMA, 289(23), 3095. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.289.23.3095Journal article. Paired academic research.Indexed abstract readEurope PMC indexed abstract read in full from research/indexed-paper-abstracts.json on 2026-10-23 (the Crossref record in research/pairing-doi-metadata.json has no abstract). Full article not read.
  2. [2]
    Open Library (Internet Archive). (2001). The noonday demon (open library work and edition records). Open Library. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3457531WArchive or library record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Bibliographic metadata or reference record checkedOpen Library edition list inspected on 2026-10-23: Scribner 12 June 2001, Chatto and Windus 3 May 2001, Vintage 2002, 2015 edition noted as now with a new chapter. catalog metadata only.
  3. [1]
    Solomon, A. (n.d.). The noonday demon (author’s book page). Andrew Solomon. https://andrewsolomon.com/books/the-noonday-demon/Publisher or bibliographic record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Bibliographic metadata or reference record checkedAuthor's page inspected on 2026-10-23 through a model-written page extraction: description, 2015 edition caption and new-chapter line. The page does not use the term second edition or state the first year. Book not read.