Oliver has written extensively about mental illness, most recently in the context of Covid. His book, Mending the Mind, recounts what it’s like to be mentally ill with severe depression, and how, with professional help, he was able to make a full recovery. In conversation with Diana Fox Carney, he explains the progress of science in understanding depression, and the insights into the condition that have been provided by writers and artists through the ages. His message is hopeful: though depression is a real and devastating illness, the mind and its disorders are yielding to scientific inquiry, and effective psychological, psychiatric and pharmacological treatments are already available.
