In this powerful and deeply personal episode of the Hinesights Podcast, Kevin Hines sits down with Mariam Khayretdinova, a Harvard alumna, neuroscientist, TEDx speaker, and CEO of Brainify.ai, to explore the future of mental health, suicide prevention, and artificial intelligence.

Mariam shares her lived experience with depression and suicidal thoughts beginning at just six years old, growing up in post-Soviet Russia where mental health was heavily stigmatized. Today, she is on a mission to change psychiatry from the inside out by building one of the world’s most ambitious brain data platforms.

• Why is psychiatry still based largely on symptoms and trial-and-error treatment?
• Why can’t we scan the brain to diagnose depression the way we diagnose cancer or heart disease?
• What role can AI and EEG brain data play in developing precision mental health care?

Together, Kevin and Mariam unpack:

• The reality of suicidal ideation and how isolation increases risk
• The importance of “safety measures” and connection during mental health crises
• Why psychiatry is one of medicine’s most data-starved fields
• How artificial intelligence could transform depression treatment and drug development
• The myths we believe about the brain
• The urgent need to treat mental health as brain health

This episode bridges science and humanity, translating pain into data, suffering into signal, and despair into something we can better understand and respond to with compassion and precision.

If you care about mental health innovation, suicide prevention, neuroscience, or the future of AI in medicine, this conversation is essential listening.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. In the U.S., call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For international resources, please contact your local crisis services.

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