Ep4 trailer: Speaking up about Major Depression with Zac

In this three part preview of Episode 4: I talk to Zachary, a therapist and former trained psychiatric nurse with experience as a guest lecturer to students around mood disorders, medication, and his own lived experience of mental health. He also has experience as a subcontracted CQC inspector. He talks candidly about his diagnosis of treatment resistant depression. In this excerpt he talks about advocacy and fighting the system. He answers my question “How would you fix the system if I appointed you Director General of the NHS?”, talking about slashed budgets, shortsightedness of the system, and a reluctance to change. Lastly, he talks about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation & partaking in a Ketamine clinical trail for his treatment resistant depression. Ketamine is not available on the NHS outside of trials; and Zac wants to have the drug be available on the NHS and states the case for it been more affordable and risk averse compared to existing drugs on the market. He also talks about existing medications such as Mirtazapine and their own side effects and the reluctancy around Ketamine use in the NHS. This is only so preview of the full episode which will be available very soon! *Disclaimer* We are not a medical podcast and you should not use any information herein as a substitute for your doctors advice. KEYWORDS: TMS - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Ketamine, Mirtazapine, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Advocacy, Governance, Psychiatry, Therapy, EMS, Ketamine therapy, NHS, Service Improvement, Service Delivery.