DEPRESSION: disease of the brain or a state of mind? Conversation with Dr Joanna Moncrieff

‘Depression is like a barometer. It’s something that indicates that everything is not right within your life, that something is going wrong’, says dr Joanna Moncrieff, a psychiatrist and a professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London. Is depression a disease of the brain or a state of mind? What are antidepressants and what is their mechanism of action? Is there a drug that cures depression? Are antidepressants addictive? What is the difference between addiction and physical dependence? What are the withdrawal symptoms and why is it easy to mistake them for a relapse? These are some of the questions we will answer in this conversation.

Links mentioned in the video: Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R.E., Stockmann, T. et al. The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular Psychiatry, 2022.

Depression. Latest scientific research: https://youtu.be/xjIX4rPWxiw