Depression: as real as diabetes

This is a very good (but perhaps longish--52 minutes) video with Robert Sapolsky addressing our current understanding of depression and the way various risk factors interact. He gives, a well, as quick summary of the origins of the "chemical imbalance" theory that was once so influential.

In brief, depression is the result of genes + stress; these two interact via brain chemistry.   What I especially appreciate is his understanding that admonishing us to "pull ourselves out of it" is useless. We don't need pep talks. We need treatment for a condition that is, as he says, as real as diabetes.  I would even go so far as to say that telling a depressed person to "pull yourself out of it" is needlessly cruel, despite there being at least one entire  book devoted to that sort of brow-beating and victim-blaming.

Sapolsky is an interesting scholar, having carved out a niche for himself between neurobiology and primatology! He is, in particular, an expert on stress, which plays a huge role in major depression.