One of the themes in the past weeks is that depression can be an adaptive response. This article from Scientific American covers one of the benefits of depression — that rumination can help to solve problems. After a heart attack, for instance, it can be very important to ruminate on what is really important in life (since it clearly could end at any time) and change one’s life accordingly. (The article leaves out other ways depression can be adaptive — including that it forces the body to rest when it has been wounded.)
Depression’s Evolutionary Roots
Two scientists suggest that depression is not a malfunction, but a mental adaptation that brings certain cognitive advantages
Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson Jr.
August 25, 2009
But depression is nature’s way of telling you that you’ve got complex social problems that the mind is intent on solving. Therapies should try to encourage depressive rumination rather than try to stop it, and they should focus on trying to help people solve the problems that trigger their bouts of depression. (There are several effective therapies that focus on just this.) It is also essential, in instances where there is resistance to discussing ruminations, that the therapist try to identify and dismantle those barriers.
When one considers all the evidence, depression seems less like a disorder where the brain is operating in a haphazard way, or malfunctioning. Instead, depression seems more like the vertebrate eye—an intricate, highly organized piece of machinery that performs a specific function. (Full Article).
