Walking the black dog: Depression

Albrecht Dürer’s famous depiction of Melancholy, 1514 (© Wikimedia)

In the early 17th century, Robert Burton’s exhaustive study “The Anatomy of Melancholy” was an immediate best-seller. Nearly four hundred years later, Andrew Solomon included Burton in his own exhaustive study “The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression”. It also became an immediate best-seller. By investigating depression from every possible angle, both Burton and Solomon were trying to deal with their own struggle of “Walking the Black Dog.”

Producer: David Swatling

Broadcast: March 5, 2004