Researching the causes of depression: reasons for optimism

As part of its commitment to fostering research in all aspects of psychiatry, the Mental Health Foundation, a British charity, sponsors conferences in key areas. The 1995 research conference brought together leading academics and practitioners to discuss current ideas concerning the causes of depression. The papers selected for this supplement are based on presentations to the conference, appropriately expanded and updated. As such they cover most of the main ideas and issues in this developing topic. This paper seeks to place these in a broader context.