This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Is depression, as most of us experience it, meaningless suffering? Dr. Lisa Miller presents research that lends meaning to the experience of depression and to our experience on planet Earth.

Dr. Lisa Miller is perhaps the world’s foremost expert in the relative study of psychology and spirituality. Dr. Miller is Professor and Director of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she founded and currently directs the Spirituality and MindBody Institute, to innovate, disseminate, and train healers in foundationally spiritual treatments. Dr. Miller soloedited the Oxford University Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality (2012) and has published over seventy articles and chapters on spirituality in mental health and wellness. She has acted as Principle Investigator on several million dollarsworth of grants from corporate and family foundations as well as the National Institutes of Mental Health. Dr. Miller is CoFounder and CoEditorinChief of the new APA publication, Spirituality in Clinical Practice, and also serves as associate editor of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, the official journal of APA Division 36, Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, for which Dr. Miller has served as President and is now APA Council Representative. Dr. Miller has been elected to Fellow of the American Psychological Association and awarded the Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award. She is a graduate of Yale University, Columbia University, and University of Pennsylvania, where she studied under Martin Seligman, Ph. D.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, selforganized events that bring people together to share a TEDlike experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, selforganized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are selforganized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)