E30 – Breaking the Silence: Stories and Science of Depression

In this special two-part episode of BrainSTEM, Dr. Hilary Marusak explores one of the most common — and most misunderstood — mental health conditions: depression. We approach it from two angles: first through lived experience, then through cutting-edge neuroscience.

In Part 1, Dr. Marusak sits down with Amanda Geisinger, who shares her personal journey with depression with honesty and courage — what it felt like from the inside, how she navigated stigma, what helped, and what she wishes more people understood. Her story is a reminder that depression is real, that healing is possible, and that speaking up can change lives.

In Part 2, we're joined by Dr. Ignacio Saez, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, and Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he directs the Human Neurophysiology Laboratory. Dr. Saez's lab does something extraordinary: recording electrical and chemical activity directly from the living human brain during surgery to understand how mood, reward, and decision-making work — and how they break down in depression. He's a 2023 One Mind Rising Star awardee, and as a 2024 awardee herself, Dr. Marusak calls this conversation something of a family reunion. Since the recording, Amanda has also joined One Mind as part of their Lived Experience Council!

Together, these two conversations offer a complete picture — the human story and the brain science — of what depression really is, why it's so hard to treat, and where hope lies.

🔗 Topics Covered

• Amanda's story: when depression first showed up and what it felt like from the inside

• Navigating stigma — from others and from within

• What helped: therapy, medication, lifestyle, and human connection

• What Amanda wishes more people understood — and her message for anyone struggling

• What depression actually is in the brain, beyond "chemical imbalance"

• Real-time measurement of serotonin and dopamine during surgery — and what's been surprising

• The neuroscience of anhedonia: why people lose joy in the things they love

• What happens in the brain during suicidal crisis — and can we predict risk?

• Why antidepressants fail roughly one in three patients

• Neurostimulation and AI: personalizing treatment for the most severe cases

• Where ketamine and psychedelics fit into the picture

• What both guests most want people living with depression to know right now

🌿 Tune in for a courageous, science-backed, and deeply human conversation about depression — what it feels like, what it looks like in the brain, and what's coming next.

📢 Follow us on Instagram @brainstempodcast to submit your questions for future episodes.

🎧 Available now on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts!

📄 Learn more about Dr. Saez's work:

• Human Neurophysiology Lab at Mount Sinai: https://labs.neuroscience.mssm.edu/project/saez-laboratory/

• One Mind Rising Star Award: https://onemind.org/rising-star-research-award/

❤️‍🩹 Help is available 24 hours/day at the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988.

🧠 BrainSTEM is hosted by neuroscientist Dr. Hilary Marusak. Production and social media by Amanpreet Bhogal, Manmeet Bhogal, Gabby Maramag, and Natalie Thurston.

This podcast is made possible by the generous support of the Society for Neuroscience and the Michigan Society for Neuroscience.

🎙️ Subscribe, share, and follow us! Visit: www.brainSTEMpodcast.com. Full video episodes are also available on YouTube.