Dick: “I will talk about my experience of pursuing an academic research career in neuroscience while also coping with poor mental health.”

There are many reasons why some people have suffered from poor mental health in the last two years: covid, lockdown, the inability to do experiments etc. These problems cause stress, and stress causes anxiety and depression. But there are individual differences in vulnerability to stress, due to genes and upbringing.

I will illustrate this with my own family history; I have inherited severe bipolar mood disorder and other members of the family also suffer from depression. I describe what it is like to be depressed or anxious, and what it is like to have bipolar mood disorder.

Finally, I suggest the ways in which people can cope with anxiety and depression, starting with simple changes to lifestyle such as taking exercise. I describe how to get cognitive behaviour therapy either online or from the NHS IAPT. I also discuss why people are sometimes resistant to getting medication from a GP because of worries about side effects. Finally, I discuss the degree to which antidepressants work, and how we believe they work.