Mind & Life Institute president Adam Engle shares opening remarks followed by Emory University president James W. Wagner who announces that the Dalai Lama’s installation as an Emory Presidential Distinguished Professor. The Dalai Lama follows with remarks highlighting two core commitments: promoting human values, especially compassion, through secular ethics, and fostering religious harmony. He emphasizes …

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Charles Nemeroff explores the causes of depression, emphasizing the profound impact of early childhood trauma on adult vulnerability. He frames depression as a severe, often fatal illness—not merely sadness—characterized by anhedonia, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, and increased risk of suicide and physical disease. While genetics account for about one-third of depression risk, environmental factors—especially early …

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Helen Mayberg explores depression through the lens of brain circuitry, emphasizing how emotional and cognitive systems interact to shape human experience. She explains that the brain constantly responds to internal and external stimuli, maintaining a balance between emotional processing and rational thinking. In mild cases of imbalance, practices like mindfulness can help restore equilibrium. However, …

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John Dunne examines efforts to understand depression through a dialogue between Buddhist thought and contemporary science. Rather than presenting Buddhism in a traditional sense, he focuses on how Buddhist cognitive and psychological frameworks can collaborate with Western approaches to deepen our understanding of depression and improve treatment methods. He highlights the widespread and growing impact …

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Zindel Segal emphasizes that while depression can vary in severity and may be treated through physical interventions, psychological approaches focus on transforming one’s relationship to depressive experiences rather than eliminating them. These approaches address both the emotional and cognitive aspects of depression, including overwhelming or numbed feelings and persistent patterns of rumination and self-focus. Across …

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Richard Davidson explores the scientific study of compassion and its potential applications for mental health, particularly depression. Inspired by the Dalai Lama, Davidson describes efforts to apply rigorous neuroscience methods—traditionally used to study fear and anxiety—to compassion. He begins by showing that individuals with depression exhibit reduced brain responses to positive social interactions, suggesting a …

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Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi explores compassion meditation through the lens of Tibetan medical and Buddhist traditions, while connecting these insights to contemporary scientific research. He begins by contextualizing mental disorders within Tibetan medicine, highlighting causes such as psychosocial stress, lack of social connection, and imbalances in bodily and behavioral factors. Traditional treatments combine pharmacology, lifestyle …

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Charles Raison explores whether compassion meditation can proactively protect against depression by altering how the body and mind respond to stress. Unlike approaches that treat depression after it emerges, his study investigates prevention—specifically how training in compassion might reduce harmful physiological stress responses linked to mental and physical illness. Raison explains that stress responses evolved …

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