Lone Frank’s latest podcast delves into the secrets of ten thousand souls
In a new podcast series exploring the world’s largest collection of human brains, science journalist Lone Frank takes us on a personal journey of discovery into the vulnerabilities of the human psyche – exploring the mysteries of the brain and the concept of normality
Until 2018, the world’s largest collection of brains was hidden away in the basement under a former mental hospital in the Danish city of Risskov. Shelf after shelf, closely packed with containers of human brains preserved in formalin.
The brains of nearly ten thousand sick, mad and tormented men and women who died in Danish state hospitals between 1945 and 1982. Floating in their plastic containers, waiting for science to decode their secrets. There are 9,479 brains in all, waiting to serve science and expand our understanding of the genetic origins of conditions like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
https://www.weekendavisen.dk/titusinde
Now, the collection is also the starting point of the personal and kaleidoscopic Danish podcast series, “Lone Frank og de titusinde sjæle” (Lone Frank and the ten thousand souls), comprising four episodes that can be streamed at weekendavisen.dk/titusinde and on most podcast services.
With funding from the Lundbeck Foundation, the podcast series wrestles with big questions about the brain and who we are as human beings. Exploring depression – and our understanding of mental illness. Are those thousands of brains hiding the key to the vulnerabilities of our psyche? Can the collection teach Lone Frank something about her own condition?
Mental illness is the new normal
“Just when I was getting started on the podcast about the world’s largest collection of human brains, I was struck by depression and an overwhelming sense of futility. ‘What was the point of anything?’
And this means that we need to change our view of mental health
So I took my own condition as my point of departure for exploring the bigger topic of understanding mental illness in general. And I discovered that the research is bringing us in an entirely new direction. To a place where we should, perhaps, ease our focus somewhat on both diagnosis and disease patterns,” says Lone Frank, who continues:
“Mental illness affects 85% of us at some point in our lives. So mental illness isn’t an outlying condition, it is the norm. And this means that we need to change our view of mental health. The vast majority of us have psychological challenges that manifest in our lives as depression, anxiety or other symptoms. But the vast majority of those cases are transient and treatable. This doesn’t mean that we should think of ourselves as fundamentally ‘sick’,” concludes Lone Frank.
The podcast series developed by Lone Frank in collaboration with producer and presenter Birgit Nissen Pedersen has been made possible by a grant from the Lundbeck Foundation.
The eloquent and poetic series comprises personal reflections interwoven with scientific interviews and literary quotes spoken by journalist Sten Jørgensen and actress Bodil Jørgensen, respectively.
Raben Rosenberg – Professor of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Centre Amager
Karl-Anton Dorph-Petersen – Neuroscientist, Neuropsychiatry Unit, Aarhus University
Martin Wirenfelt – Neuroscientist and Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark
Karin Garde – Medical Specialist in Psychiatry, Sct. Hans Hospital
Poul Videbech – Professor of Psychiatry, Capital Region of Denmark Psychiatric Services
Terrie Moffitt – Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University
Thomas Werge – Professor at University of Copenhagen and Head of the Institute of Biological Psychiatry
