If you are experiencing extreme distress, don’t worry: there is help for you, and you can get better. All the evidence presented in Lost Connections shows that people can recover from depression if they are given the right support, and especially through the seven ways back for which there is scientific evidence described in the book.

If you need immediate help, you should make an appointment now to see your doctor. If you don’t think you can make it that long, please go right now to the emergency room of your nearest hospital and tell them how you are feeling: they will get help to you right away.

These are also some places you can call:

In the United States, you can call 1 (800) 273-TALK

In the UK and Ireland, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123
In Australia, you can call them on 135 247
In New Zealand, you can call them on 0800 726 666

But a key point I make in Lost Connections is that it shouldn’t be left only to depressed people to solve the problem of depression. We don’t say that the problem of road accidents can only be solved by people bleeding from car crashes. It’s the job of all of us – depressed and not-depressed – to come together to challenge the causes of depression that have been rising all around us. In the medium to long term, the best way for all of us to get help is by coming together to make these targeted changes to the way we are currently living.

If you are in an immediate crisis, follow the advice above. But if the crisis has been grinding on for you for a long time – as it has for our whole culture – the book is an attempt to explain what you can do on a more sustainable basis, to fight back.