What Happens to Our Brains When We Get Depressed?

Scientists have long been interested in the connection between the biology of the brain and mental illnesses like depression. In his latest article, Simon Lewsen points out that “the disease affects more than 260 million people around the world, but we barely understand it.”

“The science of mental illness is based primarily on the study of symptoms,” Lewsen writes. “Patients receive a diagnosis when they report or exhibit maladaptive behaviours—despair, anxiety, disordered thinking—associated with a given condition. If a significant number of patients respond positively to a treatment, that treatment is deemed effective. But such data reveals nothing about what physically goes on within the brain.”

For our contributors’ page in the June issue of The Walrus, we interviewed Lewsen on how he came to write this piece. “I’ve always wanted to write a story about brains because the topic strays into something that feels a little bit mystical—a place where hard science and abstract philosophy meet,” he said. “We mostly understand how the heart and lungs work because they’re comparatively simple machines. The brain, however, is infinitely more complex and mysterious. We still know surprisingly little about it.”