What Causes Depression?

Important, Not Important

Content Warning

We're going to be talking about stress and anxiety, depression, suicide, and more today.

If any of this could be triggering to you in any way, please feel free to just skip over this one. Nothing in this conversation should be taken as medical advice. If a treatment or combination of treatments prescribed or recommended by your healthcare provider is working for you, that's great.

Your personal experience with that treatment is much more relevant than anything in this conversation. If you're using a depression medication or other therapy and not getting relief from your depression symptoms, talk with your healthcare provider. And finally, if you are struggling, feeling distressed and that you might hurt yourself or if someone you love qualifies in any way here, you can text or call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

That's 988, right now from your phone to get help. You can even call and press three to speak to a counselor with the Trevor Project, the nonprofit that works and provides wonderful support for LGBTQ folks.

What is depression?

And how do the interactions between our genes, our chemistry, and the environment around us affect our odds of developing and being treated for anxiety and depression?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Srijan Sen.

Srijan is the Francis and Kenneth Eisenberg Professor of Depression and Neurosciences at the University of Michigan and the Director of the Francis and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center. His research focuses on the interactions between genes and the environment and their effect on stress, anxiety, and depression.

Even before COVID, kids, teens, and adults were suffering increasing levels of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and stress.

The symptoms are fairly common to folks who have them, but the causes are far less so. From genetics to the gut, to brain chemistry, to inflammation, and innumerable possible environmental factors like say, a pandemic, or school shootings, or a loved one passing, or childhood abuse, whatever it might be. Just a lack of sleep can trigger depressive symptoms. Or not.

I have suffered through it, Srijan has suffered through it, and so many of you have too.

So, with the way science is progressing rapidly in myriad ways, I thought it was time to dive in.

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INI Book Club:

• Range by David Epstein
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Follow along with the work of The Sen Lab
• Follow Srijan on Twitter
• Read Quinn's essay about Apple and mental health
• Suicide Crisis Lifeline (Call 988)
• The Trevor Project Hotline for LBGTQ+ youth

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• Edited by Anthony Luciani
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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