Join us for the definitive story of depression – from its history to its cutting-edge future – by a young scientist discovering his own very personal family history of darkness.

When scientist Alex Riley was diagnosed with depression after years of struggling with his mental health, he set out to learn more about his family’s hidden history of mental illness.

What he found, from symptoms to treatments, from stories of stigma to those of hope, brought about even more questions: why and how are these the treatments available, what have they done for us, and what might the future hold for sufferers of this ubiquitous disease?

In this livestream in Conversation event, he will seek the answers to these vital questions about the inner workings of our minds.

From the ancient Greeks to Freud, and from therapy rooms to the Prozac revolution, Alex will take us on a compelling journey, packed with fascinating stories and deep insight. Leading us to new frontiers in deep brain stimulation and psychedelics, it will offer us extraordinary hope for the future of the illness.

Praise for Alex Riley’s A Cure for Darkness:

‘A fascinating history of mental health, treatments, practitioners and therapies’ – Evening Standard

‘Boldly ambitious, deeply affecting, and magisterial in scope, A Cure for Darkness is a milestone in the literature of depression, humanising the global quest to unlock the secrets of a profoundly disabling disorder’ – Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes

‘Breezily written, personal and accessible, and it covers a lot of ground. I hope it will be widely read by those who are susceptible to depression […] and by policymakers’ – Oliver Kamm, The Times