Depression is incredibly pervasive and thus important to talk about.

Show me one neuron that has some cellular semblance of free will. And there is no such neuron.

What adolescence is about is by trial and error, honing a frontal cortex that is going to be more optimal by the time you're 25.

At its worst, there's just virtually no organ system in your body that's not thrown out of kilter in some way by chronic psychological stress.

If you're a gazelle, you don't have a very complex emotional life, despite being a social species. But primates are just smart enough that they can think their bodies into working differently. It's not until you get to primates that you get things that look like depression.

Primates are super smart and organized just enough to devote their free time to being miserable to each other and stressing each other out.

Yes, genes are important for understanding our behavior. Incredibly important - after all, they code for every protein pertinent to brain function, endocrinology, etc., etc. But the regulation of genes is often more interesting than the genes themselves, and it's the environment that regulates genes.

As I became more interested in behavior from the standpoint of neurobiology, the stress-response became really interesting. What stress physiology is about is - when there is a new environmental challenge, how does an individual adapt? It seemed like a natural transition.

My roots, in college, were in behavior in the context of evolution.

I was very sheltered, very bookish and, basically, skittish about life. My parents were both older when I came along and they didn't do things like take vacations.