Kelly Lambert at VFOB

Kelly Lambert spoke last night at the Virginia Festival of the Book about her book, Lifting Depression, and about her neuroscience research. She was a personable and engaging speaker whose views about depression did not seem as extreme as those expressed in her book. Her research into what she calls the "effort based rewards" system is fascinating. There's little doubt that the effort-based rewards feedback loop is broken in people with depression and the suggestion from Lambert's rodent research that this reward system could be retrained is encouraging.

Lambert specifically suggests knitting as one possible activity that might help depression, and serendipitously there was someone in the audience who was knitting. She agreed that it is a relaxing and rewarding activity.

Lambert has convinced me that I should try doing more things with my hands such as cooking, baking pies, and painting lobsters as I did last week. (No lobsters were harmed during this activity.) Creating is fun and can make people feel good, whether it cures depression or not.