Examining depression through the lens of the brain | Dr. Helen Mayberg | TEDxEmory

Dr. Mayberg approaches depression from a neurologist point of view. Through brain circuit mapping and 1st person perspective, she develops an empathetic understanding of negative moods.

Helen Mayberg, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Radiology and the Dorothy Fuqua Chair in Psychiatric Neuroimaging and Therapeutics at Emory University. Over the last 25 years, her multi-disciplinary depression research team has worked to integrate cutting-edge imaging strategies, quantitative behavioral and psychophysiological metrics, and experimental treatment trials to define brain-based biomarkers that can optimize treatment selection for individual patients. This work was foundational for the first studies of subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression and remains the cornerstone of current studies to both refine and optimize DBS implementation and characterize network mechanisms mediating its antidepressant effects. Dr. Mayberg is a neurologist, trained at Columbia's Neurological Institute in New York, with fellowship training in nuclear medicine at Johns Hopkins.

[foofy]

anyone else struggle for half an hour + every morning to convince yourself to get up and brush your teeth? just walking to the sink is, well, painful. every simple task is daunting. everything hurts. everything. my brain is broken.

[Chloe]

You know what is totally amazing? Every person with depression who is commenting has a greatly elevated ability to communicate clearly and even to spell!!! Most comment sections on YouTube are loaded with illiterate comments that you can barely understand. Kind of interesting.

[garypederson]

As someone who has spent a significant amount of my life in a state of depression, I am SO relieved to hear her acknowledge some people cannot talk themselves out of it. My childhood was fine, thank you. My parents were (and are) patient, caring, loving people. Nobody abused me. Yet the feeling of joy or even contentment eluded me. I was/am lucky as a combination of medications eventually worked. I still have some very difficult days but compared to where I have been I am exponentially better. My doctor of many years summed it up well when she said "Gary, you could talk and talk and talk all day. It would make no difference. This is about chemicals in your brain. For some reason they don't work well so let's help your brain and fix it." It took a while, but we did.

[VEGETADTX]

It's people like Dr. Helen Mayberg who will revolutionize neuropsychiatry. I just want them to keep being so patient and persistent!

[koridevereaux]

When I was in my deepest depression, I had a dream one night that I died from an explosion and when I woke up I was so disappointed that I woke up. I was really DEEPLY disappointed that I had to wake up.

[fijones]

I'm 62 and I've lived with it all my life. People who don't have it can't understand how much hope something like this brings into our lives. Depression has been like being wrapped in a rotting shroud all my life and I've lived through a number of suicide attempts just to try to escape the pain. I've cut myself to try to let some of the pain out, or at least be able to see pain when I bleed. It hurts in a way you can never explain to someone who doesn't have it. 'Where?' they ask. Depending on when they ask, it's everywhere. Or sometimes you manage to get 'I don't know' through the tears. They could do this to me tonight because each day I lose more and more strength to fight.

[amyselwyn]

This is an extraordinary presentation. It explains so much about the void, the pit of negativity. When I experienced a major acute depressive episode, I could not imagine ever returning to a normal life. At the time, I had a friend who demanded that I call her, that I tell her about my depression, etc. She could not and would not accept that her needs were not part of my recovery. As expected, she began exhibiting anger. As I recovered with psychotherapy and anti-depressants, I saw the toxicity of this relationship for what it was and, this is a huge gift from the process, ended the relationship. Many depressed people recount similar stories.

[elsajohansson]

that was the most engaging, inspiring thing I’ve ever watched. It was both revolutionary and compassionate - I’ve had depression for nine years so far and nothing has ever given me more hope (even though I currently feel hopeless). I truly hope she can inspire the next generation to further this ethos 🤍

[cinemagicads]

I used to love, laugh, play, I was active, I was always seeking knowledge, I was alive. and now look at me a dead soul with a dead heart and a broken brain who feel hopeless and who can't even tell his parents because he's too deep that he can't find words to express how he's feeling and who is tired to just explain to your parents why you're depressed.

[NewellDaugherty-wusu]

People Don’t Want to
Kill Themselves They Just Don’t Know How to Kill the
Every Thunderstorm
Runs Out of

[chicomendez]

I lose my appetite, insomnia, irritability, paranoia, aggression, isolation...and the opposite overeating, sleep, hyper, emotional....

[lancebbowman]

I'm so broken I can't be fixed. I'm taking the meds and going to therapy, but it feels like going through the motions. I'm so tired of waiting for the fog to lift.

[SM-fmeb]

Great... I wish there are more doctors like her and more research will be done for mapping the brain network for mental illness so that brain scan for mental illness is as common as MRI for bone\join injury. Anxiety and depression is a disease that doesn't get enough focus. Except for Pharmaceutical companies, who spent millions into drugs that make them billions. Psychiatrists who prescribed them by trials and errors. There is no diagnosis they recommend or use to determine what is the proper treatments. Brain scan should be a regular process that is used to treat brain illness, the same as people getting MRI or XRAY for bone\joint injuries.

[chinookvalley]

Simply hearing other's voices and comments, lets me know I am not alone. We are all struggling together, in unison, hoping for compassion where there is none, and understanding when there is only criticism. How much longer, is the question each and every day.

[TheClassicsme]

It is very much a nightmarish state of darkness and weight. This video really struck a cord with its descriptions. For me it's a heavy, suffocating, dark fog that makes every thought, activity, movement etc. feel like an impossible feat. Like trying to keep your head above water with 300 lbs of chains and weights strapped all over your body. The inability to focus mentally but also weirdly even visually. I'd find myself staring off into nothing for who knows how long, and getting terrible headaches from the eye strain of not blinking for long periods. Hypersomnia (as opposed to insomnia) is the symptom that has the most immediate effect on my day to day life. At some points I'm sleeping 16-18 hrs a day and even when I'm awake I only get up to use the bathroom or eat.
I can't even bring myself to shower or comb my hair for weeks at a time. I used to take such pride in my hair and in this state I've had several occasions (on days with a modicum of improvement) where I have to spend hours trying to work out the matted hair at the back of my head from so much time spent laying down. After 5+ years of this nightmare I don't think I'm ever going to truly get better. I think about suicide constantly but can't even find the strength, energy, and motivation to end this.

[anarcho-communist]

What a different world this would be if more people had this woman's compassion. On a suicide forum I used to visit, the main thing people were unhappy with was the selfishness of society in general.

[avalynnwaller]

62 yrs old here. PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, anxiety and depression are my life. The pain is utterly unbearable. One suicide attempt. Trying not to leave a legacy of parental suicide. Sober x 10 yrs. The pain of depression is like living in a vast bleak wasteland where dread and guilt choke the life outta you. No connection to daily events in any meaningful manner. I am weary.

[justmadeit]

If you have enough stress and worry over a long period of time then it can tip over in to depression. Because being stressed and not at ease day in day out for years and years will exhaust a persons adrenal gland and depletes the feel good chemicals in their brains too. If someone is carrying around feelings of guilt and shame and self loathing, then these emotions can also trigger a depression. Enough worry and stress will cause a big depression. I believe there are always reasons people are depressed. Even if some arent conscious of it.

[foofy]

sign me up. cannot be worse than "living" this way.

[SCHuang-eoec]

It's the second time I listened to her work, still so beautiful and amazing! Thank you Dr. Mayberg, it's people like you that makes the world into a better place and bring lights back to life