Depression: How could medication aid in recovery? | Professor Roland Zahn | Mind of the Matter

Professor Roland Zahn, Deputy Lead of Psychosis and Mood Disorders Theme at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, discusses why people may opt to take medication for the depression as well as hesitancies around medication.
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Mind of the Matter is a new series that gets to the truth about your mental health. The series aims to tackle myths from leading NHS and academic experts, brought to you by mental health leads at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King's Health Partners and world-leading university King's College London.
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[@eg6278]

Great video been a massive help

[@zahnra]

Thanks very much, I am glad to hear it was helpful. Prof Roland Zahn

[@Aka47xxx]

A lot of talk about 'biological' depression here... Yet there's literally no evidence of any physiological abnormality in depression. There is far more stigma in 'you have a brain disorder' than 'you have had stress/trauma'. Also if depression runs in your family then it is equally as likely to have a psychosocial basis than a biological basis... Genes are hereditary but then so are social factors. In fact, this entire video is littered with pro-biological psychiatry leanings. The sooner psychiatry accepts its shortcomings, the better.

[@zahnra]

I agree that acknowledging the biological factors contributing to major depression is often difficult if you are affected by it as many of us are. And indeed, there are colleagues of mine who are psychiatrists or clinical psychologists and are very critical of the idea that biological factors play a role, but very few would go as far as to say that major depression is entirely caused by psychological life events, because even the most critical examination of the evidence shows that biological and psychological factors most likely are interacting to render people vulnerable to major depression. Maybe I need to do another youtube video to talk through the evidence, the scientific literature is vast and so I would not dare to claim that I have read everything in the last 29 years since starting my research career, but I have listened to and read both sides of the argument, as well as talked to several hundred people affected by major depression to understand their experiences and what they found may have played a role and has made a difference to how they keep well or feel better, or tried to find a treatment for people where previous things have not worked. Thanks very much for taking the time to reflect on my video, I hope it is useful for at least some people and just to clarify the treatment recommendations are not based on my personal scientific opinion, but on the NHS body who has carefully reviewed the evidence in 2022 (NICE). It is also important to note that the question of whether medication is useful for more severe depression is not dependent on the question of its causes. Prof Roland Zahn, King's College London

[@Aka47xxx]

@@zahnra Thanks for the reply! I'd agree that's it's biopsychosocial. But the psychosocial impacts are glaring (go to an acute ward and ask how many are from low socioeconomic background), whilst the biological are forever just beyond our knowledge. Yet which area gets the grant money? I just worry that as a profession, the first thought when someone is not improving, is to go 'which drug should I augment with?'. Rather than taking a step back and asking if they actually suffer from shitty social circumstances etc. I appreciate that you have dedicated your career to helping alleviate suffering, so I regret being negative in my comment... I think I'd feel the same way you do, if I was going through training back in the enthusiastic 80s heyday of drug treatments. But instead I'm training during the rise of critical psychiatry and the more we learn the more we see how we've been misled.