Happy Depressive Review

The Happy Depressive – In Pursuit of Personal and Political Happiness – Alistair Campbell

Occasionally a book comes along about an aspect of disability that has a huge impact one way or another. Professor Stephen Hawkins book ‘a complete history of time’ is one example. A book which shaped public perception in terms of what disabled people are capable of, even if most copies were unread and coffee table decorations.

Most people know Alistair Campbell as Tony Blair’s former spin doctor. A man who, allegedly, terrorised media hacks and politicians alike if they dared to step out of line. He was one of Tony Blair’s top lieutenants in the New Labour project. However Campbell has also played an important role in helping to shape a better understanding of the mental health agenda. He has been open, honest and frank about his own problems in 1986 when he went through a major period of poor mental health. Since then he has also been a key advocate campaigning for a better understanding of mental health problems in general.

The Happy Depressive is essentially the script of Campbell’s Thomas Bagg Memorial lecture delivered in 2011 and is now an e-book. In fact it is a very successful e-book dominating the best sellers list. Unlike ‘A complete history of time’ you can’t leave an e-book lying around. So, and I think it’s a fair assumption; most people who have downloaded it have done so to read it.

The essay is only 42 pages long and is a canter through some important themes. Now that Government has happiness as a policy objective Cameron explores whether this is achievable. His answer appears to be ‘yes’ albeit he seems unconvinced that the coalition has the programme to deliver. Campbell shows though that delivering happiness and satisfaction is no easy task. Indications from America suggest that the wealthier we get the less happy we become, or at least the more dissatisfied. His message appears to be that Government needs to be wary. Pursuing happiness is a thankless task.

Campbell then moves on to explore more personal terrain. Campbell explores the difference between contentment and happiness, drawing upon his sentiments around Labour’s successive election victories. Even after three election victories alongside Blair there was a nagging sense of being unfulfilled. He puts this down to an obsession with what comes next rather than living in the moment.

He then reflects of the death of his key mentor Philip Gould, another architect of New Labour, and his own breakdown. He comes to the conclusion that we will not know we are happy until very near the end of our life when we have the perspective to look back on everything.

All this might sound a bit heavy but it really isn’t. Campbell’s style is immediate and engaging, always honest too. There are also some very funny and insightful observations which run through the book like the lettering on a stick of rock. Crucially Campbell is able to talk about the serious issue of depression and mental health in an honest and thoughtful way.
 

It took me just over an hour to read the ‘Happy Depressive’, but its themes resonate for much longer. You can’t impress people by leaving a copy on your coffee table but you can, at the very least, put aside a bit of time to be entertained, moved and educated. This is an important, excellent and engaging book. It doesn’t depress and will leave you feeling much happier. And unlike ‘A brief history of time’ I got to the end of it, and then I read it again.
 

David Sindall