My depression, your depression

Clinical depression is a chronic worldwide health problem. The World Health Organisation state that it is the leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. Yet, little is known about what makes people vulnerable or resilient to depression.

This project has been funded by the Wellcome Trust via Scotpen/SWEA, and is run by Dr Iona Beange, Knowledge Exchange Officer at The Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh (iona.beange@ed.ac.uk). It aims to raise depression up the political and social agenda in Scotland, by facilitating the creation of digital stories of depression which can be:

• shown at public events to inspire others, and reduce stigma around depression
• shared with MSPs, to increase their awareness of how depression is affecting the people of Scotland and to potentially influence their policy making decisions.

Four groups of people will be recruited to this project to create their own digital stories:

• Adults with lived experience of depression
• Young people (now aged 16-20) who experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression as a younger teenager (13-15 years old)
• Relatives of those with lived experience of depression (e.g. parent, partner, sibling)
• Researchers who study depression.

Stories from researchers who study depression

24,039
In his professional life, Anders seeks to bring forth meaning from data – data contributed by over 24,000 generous volunteers in his study.
In his personal life, he sows, nurtures and grows vegetables on his allotment.
The true worth of those vegetables is in sharing them with others as part of a delicious and nourishing meal – just as the true worth of the work of the data contributed to his study lies in the information and meaning that he can make from them and give back to the community to inform and educate.

Help me help you
Carys has always seen patterns – in numbers, in Lego bricks, everywhere. Her work as an epidemiologist and data scientist looks for patterns in numbers, statistics, the data that describes our population. In a pandemic, whether of COVID or depression, the more complete that data set is, then the more accurate she can see the patterns in the data. There is so much data out there, but it may not have been collected expresslly for this purpose, but it could really help. Your data could really help. Would you share it to help her see those patterns more clearly?

Understanding ageing
Matthew knows that his research into dementia and ageing is unlikely to be able to offer changes to treatment and prediction that will directly benefit the many elderly people that take part in his research programme.
They know it too – and still they work, like him, towards improving the health of future generations.

The whirlwind of adolescent depression
Adolescence – a whirlwind of change, a time of chaotice experiences and response for many. Making sense of a single teenage life can be challenging, but through data science and a larger data set, Niamh seeks to understand the nature of the developmental, social or environmental factors that affect the teenage experience. That way, she may be able to help map a safer course through the storms for them.

Understanding, diagnosing, recognising
The unique and individual nature of depression may require a unique and individual therapeutic intervention. Too often one size does not fit all – responses to drugs may vary, requiring repeated cycles to identify the correct approach. What if research into a holistic approach to the patients’ profiles could offer a basis for predicting the optimal therapeutic approach?

Stories from adults with lived experience of depression

Emptiness
Robin fills the emptiness of depression with the emptiness of cans. He battls the heaviness, chilling cold and pointlessness with more.
An attempt to talk to his GP about depression provides no relief. That has to come from within, when he changes his life, pushes forward in his education and becomes a father.

Mind the gaps
Depression brings gaps into Karen’s life. The gaps fracture her life and separate her from meaning and purpose. But they have other effects – changes to her career, training as a therapist – and now building something of beauty from those gaps, not papering over them.

Twenty-eight
Stella chooses to fly higher into a new life of study in a new city, in a new country. But emotional and personal loss eventually weigh her down, more and more, until she is pulled down to earth again. Help from friends, services, and a crisis team help her to begin to rise again as she begins to move forward once more in her journey.

Blue skies
Depression darkens the skies over our lives. When a young mother to be is taken into hospital before the birth of her child, little attention is given to her mental health. Depresssion becomes a lockdoen for her, and it is years before she sees blue skies again, this time in the middle of another lockdown.