Paul Gilbert, OBE is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and has been actively involved in research and treating people with shame-based and mood disorders for over 30 years. He is a past President of the British Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapy and a fellow of the British Psychological Society. He was awarded the OBE for contributions to mental health in 2011.
'Reading this book changed my life as a researcher, guiding me into entirely new lines of inquiry. It provides an extraordinarily wide-ranging and erudite review of psychosocial theories and research about depression, but its greatest contribution is the elaboration of an evolutionarily-informed analysis of depression, especially how losses of rank and status and of social connection with others can activate evolved mechanisms that regulate affect and behavior and thereby trigger the syndrome of depression. Even 25 years later the book contains innumerable rich veins of novel ideas and hypotheses waiting to be mined by researchers and clinicians interested in depression.' - Professor David Zuroff, Department of Psychology, McGill University