Summary
Geoff Watts meets researchers looking for clues to the origins of depression as a way of finding new solutions to treating it.
In the first of two programmes Geoff talks to the father of evolutionary medicine, Randolph Nesse and asks why hasn't natural selection made us less vulnerable to psychological diseases?
Could it be that depression is in some way useful to our lives?
(Image: A depressed young boy. Credit: Science Photo Library)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism. |
| 0:08.9 | In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero? |
| 0:16.2 | Simply doing your job, being a decent human being. |
| 0:20.0 | A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by their own light, |
| 0:23.9 | and that light is to be recognised by others. |
| 0:26.5 | The Long History of Heroism with me, Rory Stewart. |
| 0:29.5 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.6 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:35.4 | For details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, |
| 0:39.5 | go to BBCworldservis.com slash podcasts. |
| 0:45.9 | There were a lot of stresses everywhere. |
| 0:50.5 | I was trying to get back into work. |
| 0:55.0 | Financially, we were struggling. |
| 0:57.9 | I had three children and I were on my own. |
| 1:01.3 | I used to have a business which we ended up having to close. |
| 1:05.4 | And that resulted in losing my employment. |
| 1:09.0 | I lost my income and ended up losing my accommodation. |
| 1:15.5 | Aram, and before him, Pauline. |
| 1:18.2 | Two people with problems. |
| 1:20.1 | But while Pauline suffered from depression, Aaron did not. |
| 1:23.6 | At times, not surprisingly, Aaron's mood has become low. |
| 1:27.1 | But outright depression, no. |
... |
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