The Social Brain Hypothesis for Depression: A Chat with Dr. Douglas Watt
Anyone who struggles with depression or knows someone who struggles with depression should listen to this podcast. Dr. Douglas Watt is a forensic neuropsychologist with over 30 years of clinical practice. He has degrees from Harvard and Boston College, has served as the director of clinical psychology in two Boston teaching hospitals and has been on the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine for 15 years. He teaches classes on affective neuroscience and its implications.
In this podcast, Dr. Watt joins Dr. Eeks to discuss his theory for depression, The Social Brain Hypothesis, and why he believes depression is an evolutionary shut-down mechanism, the chemical imbalance theory is reductive and why conventional antidepressants fall short. He discusses what social rejection and loss of relationships does to us neurologically and why folks with an impaired capacity to make meaningful social attachments can become addicted to social media as a failed replacement for real-life intimate connections. Finally, he discusses why playfulness is a great promoter of intimacy, play as a mammilian prototype, play deficit and what we can do to fix it.
This is a longer podcast, but it's full of wise gems. I highly recommend listening to at least some of it. Depression and chronic loneliness are both increasing around the globe, and Dr. Watt offers a solid reason why.
( Apologies for the clicking noise- I think that was from his phone/laptop, and couldn't remove it entirely!) :)
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