Alex Riley, author of "A Cure For Darkness"

Right now, 332 million people across the globe are suffering from depression. You might be one of them. And yet despite the prevalence of this illness, it is still barely understood, with precious few treatment options available. The science writer Alex Riley - this week’s guest on Mad World - has now produced the most comprehensive history of depression ever written, with the hope of changing this.

In A Cure For Darkness, Riley busts a whole host of myths about depression. It is not a modern illness - in fact, it is as old as humans - and it is certainly not a western illness, with people all around the world experiencing it. He also explores the treatment options available, and why there are so few of them - plus, he goes into some of the exciting new options for depression on the horizon, and some of the awful practices that have been used in the past, including the ice pick lobotomy. 

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