1 in 4 people experience mental illness at some point each year and depression now affects a staggering 350 million people worldwide. Understanding the causes of depression is crucial if we’re to find ways of treating it effectively. And more and more research is suggesting that we look beyond our brains and into the immune system to find answers. We speak to Carmine Pariante, Professor of Biological Psychiatry at Kings College London, who’s been piecing together evidence on the role of our immune system in depression for 20 years.
He explains why this research is considered by scientists to be "one of the strongest discoveries in psychiatry for the last 20 years", how it could revolutionise treatments and diagnosis and exactly why we think the immune system is causing changes in mood.
This episode is brought to you by MQ: Transforming Mental Health, the new major mental health research charity. Find out more about MQ’s work here: https://www.mqmentalhealth.org
Ep 9: Young people's mental health: What's school got to do with it?
Ep 8: How can we work together to prevent suicide?
Ep 7: Why are women twice as likely to develop anxiety?
Ep 6: How does PTSD affect firefighters? And what can we do to stop it?
Ep 5: Can magic mushrooms treat depression?
Ep 4: A new way of thinking about OCD
Ep 3: The reality of life with social anxiety and the app that could help
Ep 2: Could an algorithm end the trial-and-error approach to mental health treatment?
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