New NDR podcast: "Get out of the depression"

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Everyone thinks they know somehow about depression - after all, everyone has probably already experienced a severe crisis. That depression is something completely different, namely a real illness, is one of the things that you learn in the new podcast from NDR-Info: "Get out of the depression".

How does depression develop? How do you recognize them? And what can you do to find out? Entertainer Harald Schmidt answers these questions in conversation with depression researcher Prof. Ulrich Hegerl and one additional guest per podcast.

Schmid has been the patron of the German Depression Aid Foundation for over ten years. Hegerl is chairman of the foundation and holds the Senckenberg professorship at the psychiatry department of Frankfurt University. The expert has been working with sick people for more than 30 years and researching the topic.

Love of life despite tendency to depression

Each podcast is dedicated to a specific topic. In the first episode, the differences between crisis, burnout and depression are highlighted. Podcaster Lars Tönsfeuerborn also explains that as a depressed person outside of the phases you can be a fun-loving person and how he manages to "keep the ship on course" even without medication.

Episode 2 with the writer Jasmin Schreiber is about whether depression is curable.

In the other podcast episodes, Harald Schmidt and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hegerl spoke to the author, coach and management consultant Walter Kohl - son of the late former Chancellor Helmut Kohl - the journalist Benjamin Maack, with music journalist and DJ Miriam Davoudvandi, lyricist and singer-songwriter Clara Louise as well as presenter, author and influencer Victoria Müller .

Explain science in an exciting and understandable way

With the podcast, the NDR wants to build on the success of "The Coronavirus Update" with Prof. Christian Drosten, which has now been accessed over 100 million times.

“This showed us that the need for scientifically sound information is very great. We want to build on the feedback from our listeners and continue to deepen major social issues with renowned scientists, ”says Christiane Uebing, current head of NDR Info.

Five million people affected each year

The subject of depression is certainly one of them: Depression affects 5 million people in Germany every year and also puts a heavy burden on their relatives. The lives of 10 to 15 million people are massively overshadowed every year.

In most cases, a way out of the mental illness can be found, for example with medication and / or psychotherapy. The prerequisite is that those affected get professional help promptly.

The podcast is now available at www.ndr.de/rausausderdepression, in the ARD Audiothek and wherever there are podcasts.

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