This TED Talk features neuroscientist Rebecca Brockman, recorded live at TED 2017.

So the first antidepressants were made from, of all things, rocket fuel left over after World War II,

which is fitting, seeing as today, one in five soldiers develop depression or post-traumatic stress

disorder or both. But it's not just soldiers that are at high risk for these diseases.

It's firefighters, ER doctors, cancer patients, aid workers, refugees, anyone exposed to trauma

or major life stress.

And yet, despite how commonplace these disorders are, our current treatments, if they work at all,

only suppress symptoms.

In 1798, when Edward Jenner discovered the first vaccine, it happened to be for smallpox,

he didn't just discover a prophylactic for a disease, but a whole new way of thinking,

that medicine could prevent disease. However, for over 200 years, this prevention was not

believed to extend to psychiatric diseases.

Until 2014, when my colleague and I accidentally discovered the first drugs that might prevent depression and PTSD.

We discovered the drugs in mice, and we're currently studying whether they work in humans.

And these preventative psychopharmaceuticals are not antidepressants. They're a whole new

class of drug. And they work by increasing stress resilience. So let's call them resilience enhancers.

So think back to a stressful time that you've since recovered from, maybe a breakup or an exam.

You missed a flight.

Stress resilience is the active biological process that allows us to bounce back after stress,

similar to if you have a cold and your immune system fights it off.

An insufficient resilience in the face of a significant enough stressor can result in a psychiatric disorder, such as depression.

In fact, most cases of major depressive disorder

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