Dr. Mayberg introduces herself and explains depression.
Dr. Mayberg:
My name is Helen Mayberg. I am a medical doctor. I am trained as a neurologist. I study the neurology of depression and I am currently Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Well, depression is a syndrome. It is defined by a set of symptoms that affect mood and then one’s thinking and one’s basic drive states. We make the diagnosis, not by test, unfortunately, but by the constellation of symptoms, and those symptoms have been defined as the presence of low or sad mood that’s there every day in a pervasive way for a minimum of two weeks, that is accompanied by changes in sleep, appetite, drive, energy, libido, and thinking, and that’s also accompanied, again, by really pervasive and steady thoughts of helplessness, hopelessness, and thoughts of death.
About Dr. Mayberg, M.D., FRCPC:
Helen Mayberg, M.D., FRCPC, if a Professor of Psychiatry Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology from the University of California and her medical degree from the University of Southern California, School of Medicine. Her research concerns the characterization of neural systems mediating mood and emotions in health and disease using functional neuroimaging. Defining brain mechanisms underlying major depression is the primary goal, with an emphasis on development of algorithms that will discriminate patient subgroups, optimize treatment selection, and provide markers of disease vulnerability.
Visit Dr. Mayberg at Emory University School of Medicine