University of Aberdeen granted funding for research into clinical depression

• According to the Mental Health Foundation, mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain.

• The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report found that in any one year 1 in 4 British adults experience at least one mental disorder.

• It is estimated that approximately 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem.

The trust will fund a five-year programme for researchers to use memory, reasoning and mental speed tests as well as brain imaging to discover whether specific groups of people correspond to specific disorders.

These factors include a family history of low mood, or childhood psychological trauma.

Lead researcher Andrew McIntosh, professor of biological psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, said: “For many people, the symptom of low mood is the most understandable of reactions to loss or stress, yet we remain ignorant of its causes and mechanisms.

“This means that progress in discovering new and more effective treatments is slow.

“This Wellcome Trust grant will enable us to make significant progress with this common and disabling condition.”