Understanding Melancholy

400 years ago Robert Burton produced his labyrinthine masterpiece, The Anatomy of Melancholy – a work which was celebrated in the Renaissance for its understanding of the huge variety of causes, symptoms and cures of mental distress. In A User’s Guide To Melancholy the academic Mary Ann Lund looks back to this precursor of the self-help book. She tells Amol Rajan that we have much to learn from those who struggled with melancholy in the past.

In Heavy Light, the writer Horatio Clare shares how his mind began to unwind; his growing mania followed by psychosis and his treatment in a psychiatric hospital. But he also details the journey of recovery and healing, and he investigates how society treats acute crises of mental health.

The psychiatrist Ahmed Hankir understands only too well what it’s like to feel depressed and hopeless – he suffered from mental health difficulties during his studies. He has used his own experiences to produce The Wounded Healer which seeks to reduce stigma around mental health, blending psychiatry and the performing arts.

Producer: Katy Hickman