Battling Depression

Ruby Wax's presentation on mental illness tackles the long-existing problems in society where mental illness is still perceived as a stigma. Wax, having secretly suffered from bipolar disease for over a decade, comes out in the open and readily shares her experiences of what it's like to be bipolar.

A misconception of depression, she explains, is that mental illness is often perceived as the effect of an active imagination. Why is there no sympathy for the brain? Why does society still label depressed patients? Wax describes her experience as a "nagging loop tape" where she can hear over a hundred thousand abusive voices in her head constantly feeding her toxic information. The constant sense of alarm bottles up inside each individual and with no way to vent their pent up anger and frustration, the rage is bound to burst.

As a comedian, she tries to alleviate some of the fear of openly discussing depression by adding some of her signature upfront humor, thereby forcing audiences to come face to face with the facts of this 'taboo' topic.