ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gail Bell is the author of Quarterly Essay 18: The Worried Well – The Depression Epidemic and the Medicalisation of Our Sorrows. Her first book, The Poison Principle, won the NSW premier’s prize for non-fiction in 2002 and was published around the world. Her second book, SHOT: A Personal Response to Guns and Trauma, was released to critical acclaim in 2003 and shortlisted for the Nita B. Kibble award. A graduate of the University of Sydney, where she studied pharmaceutics and education, she has since written numerous short stories and journalistic articles about medicine and her travels. 

READ AN EXTRACT

Gail Bell investigates Australia's depression epidemic. Why, she wonders, do well over a million Australians now take antidepressant drugs?
Read An Extract
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Her prose is passionate and well-paced, and her argument, for my money, is unassailable.

The Bulletin

An imaginative and compelling writer.

The Big Issue

Thoughtful, anecdotal, wide-ranging.

Sydney Morning Herald

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