Brought to you by the Depression Is Real Coalition, The Down & Up Show is dedicated to the reality of depression. Each week our hosts will talk with some of the world's top experts on depression, as well as people who have been impacted by this illness. The reality of depression is that it is a debilitating and potentially deadly medical condition that affects more than 15 million Americans every year. The other reality of depression is that there is hope.

Ellen Frank, PhD

Dr. Dr. Ellen Frank is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

Under a MERIT Award grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Frank has recently completed a study of the efficacy of Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy, a psychotherapy she and her colleagues developed for the adjunctive treatment of manic-depressive illness. She also recently completed an NIMH-sponsored study of women with recurrent depression in which she examined how psychobiology, life stress, and different "doses" of psychotherapy interact to increase or decrease vulnerability to new episodes of depression. Dr. Frank is currently involved in a joint study with researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy aimed at deriving algorithms that will enable clinicians to determine whether a given depressed patient should be treated with medication or psychotherapy.

An expert in mood disorders and their treatment, Dr. Frank was a member of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on DSM-IV and was Chair of the Food and Drug Administration Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Panel. Dr. Frank is also a former member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council and the National Institutes of Health Panel on Scientific Boundaries for Review. She is an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and in 1999 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

A graduate of Vassar College, Dr. Frank went on to pursue a masters' degree in English from Carnegie Mellon University and later completed her doctoral work in psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.