Online Talk: Dealing With Depression

Is depression a response to unfortunate life events, or the unfolding of a constitutional predisposition? According to the “learned helplessness” conceptualisation, our repeated experience of failure leads to a belief that we have no power to control our fortune and hence we just “give up”. But there is also evidence for genetic influences, suggesting that some people are biologically predisposed to develop negative mood. So how do genetic and environmental effects combine to pitch us into the depths of despair felt by so many?

Changes in brain chemistry can be observed both in depression itself and in the effects of treatment, whether by drugs or psychotherapy - are these responsible for the negative mood or a manifestation of it? There is a clear relationship between negative thoughts and depressed mood but which takes priority? What can be done to reverse the downward spiral that causes so much psychological pain and increases the risk of suicide?

Dr Glenn Wilson, who spent many years teaching psychology at London’s Institute of Psychiatry (King’s College), reviews modern research on the causes and cures of depression and discusses what can be done to keep “the black dog” at bay.