Suffering from a depressive disorder is like looking into a strange, trick mirror. Unlike ordinary sorrow, depression alters our fundamental view of ourselves. All of our real or perceived misdeeds are brought into sharp focus, and the memory of whatever unfinished business we left behind us on our way to adulthood is revived. Even the things we thought were good about ourselves are obliterated.

The statistics on gender and depression are nothing short of startling: women, from adolescence onward—and throughout every phase of the life cycle—are far more vulnerable to depression than are men. This is true, across the board. And when the findings of the varying studies on male and female depression are adjusted for age, phase of life, social class and economic circumstances—in other words, any which way—the outcome is still the same. Women are more depressed.

What are the motifs underlying these depressive disorders—in a word, what are they about? In Unfinished Business, Scarf uses a series of case studies to explore and illuminate the pressure points encountered in six successive decades of a woman’s life. One such case is that of teen-aged Anne, whose desperate need for dependence and nurturance make it impossible for her to leave the hospital after an abortion. Another is that of 26-year old Marie, whose father’s favoritism has turned her from her mother’s daughter into her mother’s rival. Still another is that of Laurie, a new mother in her thirties, whose husband becomes angry and jealous of the attention she is lavishing on their infant. Then, there is 52-year old Doris, whose depression is supposedly hormonal in origin; and sixty-something, widowed Margaret, who cannot be helped by any method short of ETC. Margaret has never learned how to mourn.

What are the tasks and concerns that each of these women must confront and master, lest she be stopped short in her existence, overwhelmed? This book is about love, loss, self-image, female biology, sexuality, aging, and a host of other key issues that all women must deal with as they journey across the life arc.