The upside of depression
October 26th, 2009
"Free Goth Baby Belladonna" by Pink Sherbet Photography
If depression is a disorder, then doing away with it should improve people’s lives. But what if doing away with it actually had a ruinous effect?
Scientists Paul Andrew and Anderson Thomson, Jr. have research that suggests depression is a trait that the species, and individuals, would not do so well without.
I’m interested in this as it points to something I think needs addressing in our culture where constant happiness is often seen as the gold standard of wellbeing. Sometimes we just need to be depressed.
Obviously a constant state of depression isn’t healthy. That statement doesn’t seem to warrant much debate. But what about those that are taking the Monty Python song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” a bit too literally? Couldn’t it be true that an ostensibly happy outlook is also an extreme situation that could signify a disorder?
This blog has touched on this notion before in a look at the work in positive psychology of Martin Seligman. There is a lot of good in positive psychology methods, and it’s especially useful for those who suffer from chronic depression, bi-polar disorders or acute depression. But I question the necessity of “treating the well.” Depression comes to everyone now and again, and the idea that it’s always a bad thing is a little suspicious.
That question is a little beyond the scope of the research of Andrew and Thomson, but their findings do seem ot indicate that we need depression to set in on occasion. And in fact, it could be an evolutionary adaptation that has stood the test of time.
“One reason to suspect that depression is an adaptation, not a malfunction, comes from research into a molecule in the brain known as the 5HT1A receptor. The 5HT1A receptor binds to serotonin, another brain molecule that is highly implicated in depression and is the target of most current antidepressant medications. Rodents lacking this receptor show fewer depressive symptoms in response to stress, which suggests that it is somehow involved in promoting depression. (Pharmaceutical companies, in fact, are designing the next generation of antidepressant medications to target this receptor.) When scientists have compared the composition of the functional part rat 5HT1A receptor to that of humans, it is 99 percent similar, which suggests that it is so important that natural selection has preserved it. The ability to “turn on” depression would seem to be important, then, not an accident.”
So what are the positive traits that depression bring according to their research? Among others:
- Depressed people often ruminate on an issue. “Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical.”
- Research indicated that people who got depressed while tackling complex problems (such as in math) often score higher on the tests.
- Depression limits people from becoming distracted due to the changes that take place in many parts of the brain.
- The need for isolation that often accompanies depression also allows for uninterrupted analysis of a situation that is more advantageous to a breakthrough in coping and quicker resolution.
“Consider a woman with young children who discovers her husband is having an affair. Is the wife’s best strategy to ignore it, or force him to choose between her and the other woman, and risk abandonment? Laboratory experiments indicate that depressed people are better at solving social dilemmas by better analysis of the costs and benefits of the different options that they might take.”
We live in a culture obsessed with happiness, which is often seen as the default setting for human beings, while the other range of emotions often considered “negative” are seen as problematic: anger and sadness being leaders among these. But if you were to imagine a society or individual in which these elements were lacking, wouldn’t you think that something was a little off? Andrews and Thomson suggest that these findings should lead to vast changes: “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.”
If depression is part of the machinery of our whole being, it seems risky to treat it as an invasive disease to be rooted out.
See: Depression’s Evolutionary Roots: Scientific American.
Andrews, P., & Thomson, J. (2009). The bright side of being blue: Depression as an adaptation for analyzing complex problems. Psychological Review, 116 (3), 620-654 DOI: 10.1037/a0016242
October 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I recently came across an article about constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought that relates to your post: http://www.apa.org/journals/features/bul1342163.pdf
Nice background image by the way
October 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Interesting post! It would help if you defined ‘depression’ here a little more, given that it ranges in meaning from a critical illness that leaves people bedridden and unable to move to just mere occasional unhappiness.
Which is why I think your sentance “I think needs addressing in our culture where constant happiness is often seen as the gold standard of wellbeing. Sometimes we just need to be depressed.” Is waaaay of the mark. Because depression isn’t just ‘not being happy’ it’s more the state of not being able to *cope* with not being happy. ‘curing’ depression does not involve making people happy again, it involves bringing them to a state where they can cope with unhappiness in a more productive manner than simply being crushed by it.
The list of positives was a very interesting one, but I’m not sure whether or not they convince me any more that depression can be a good thing. Severe unhappiness maybe, but actual chronic depression? Even if it makes someone better at maths tests, that doesn’t provide much benefit if they’re barely able to cope with the rest of the world.
Certainly an issue well worth exploring!
October 26th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the link, Ilkka.
Good points Lab Rat. For the purposes of this, we’d have to go with the researchers’ definition of the word, and I think the goring popular definition which is growing to include more occasional, non chronic depression.
As I stated above, actual chronic depression wouldn’t fit as it has an obsessive element of singular fixation without end or to the eventual detriment of health. But bouts of depression may have previously unconsidered reasons, and perhaps treatment needs to be more engaged with depression as something that’s naturally occuring instead of treating it strictly as a disorder.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Thanks for sharing this on ResearchBlogging. I was fascinated by the paper and your analysis due to a pop-bio book I had read (Ridley’s “The Agile Gene” page 35: http://books.google.com/books?id=QAdyo-J20o8C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q=&f=false) and wanted to ask if you knew anything further on the topic—he cites research showing that larger cranial capacity in animals correlates to increased emotional maturity and higher prevalence of paranoia, aggression, etc. (maybe depression?), while smaller cranial capacity in adults correlates more with juvenile emotional states (as well as juvenile physical traits). One can talk about wolves-dogs and chimps-bonobos to make this concrete, and apparently humans have undergone a significant-sounding decline in cranial capacity (~20%) in the last 15′000 years. I guess I don’t really have a specific question relating this idea (Ridley’s references for which are spotty) and the research you’ve profiled, but I’d like to hear any thoughts you may have on the matter. I understand that just because a behavior is observed in an organism doesn’t necessarily mean it has (or ever had) a selection advantage, but I would like to better understand the role of emotional maturity and the “negative” emotions it engenders in society.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
The benefits you describe apply only to those who are mildly depressed- at any higher intensity there are no benefits. So it seems to me that it’s extremly unlikely that anyone could even guess if the disease is an overall benefit for the species since it’s a weighted average of the small benefits of mild depression for many vs the cost of partial to total incapacitation of a few. While the distribution of severity can be found, I doubt that is possible to quantify the costs and benefits.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Thanks for sharing the link to “The Agile Gene” Albebrn, I haven’t read it so can’t speak to it directly. It seems to look a lot at the nature v nurture debate and I’m sort of the third-way type who sees enforcement coming from both aspects, with nurture even able to trump nature on occasion. I’m a little wary of arguments about brain capacity and how it correlates to things, but perhaps its due a little to my lack of knowledge. I think there’s not enough we know about the brain and its functions yet to make a lot of strong statements. I’ll have to add it to my reading list. Cats can exhibit paranoia, though, and are not among the biggest or more complex brain species. Depression has been seen in a number of animals, though, and (I’m guessing) a lot of them fit the big brain variety. elephants, horses, dogs, apes all show observable indicators of it.
As for the use of the word “depression” I think I go with the dictionary definition, which is a “severe despondency and dejection, typically felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.” I think the difference we’re talking here is the occasional depression, which most people do get, and chronic depression. Sometimes I think we leave off the word “chronic” when we mean exactly that when we speak of depression, and it’s an important element as it implies a whole different issue. No, we are not talking about sadness, but depression.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Your dictionary defination gave me a better idea of where your coming from, depression as a disorder spans such a wide range of symptoms and presentations it sometimes baffles me why they all get put under the same label. And in doesn’t help in that it can lead to an attidude of “you don’t need pills and stuff, just stop being so miserable” towards people with chronic depression, or acute depression which they can’t cope with, which is unhelpful for everyone concerned.
I too am a little wary of studies that talk about brain size. Even mice get depressed, as most people who’ve worked with them will tell you. Interestingly Desmond Morris in ‘The naked ape’ books pointed out that the emotional states seen by humans is mimiced most closely by zoo animals, rather than big-brained animals, suggesting this is an issue as much about situation than anything.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Very good points, Lab Rat. As has been said elsewhere, and reiterated in last night’s Race & Intelligence programme on Channel 4, brain size is often a red herring argument, and has no real impact, especially when you take in the perhaps countless other factors that impact mental and physical development. It is here that psychology must also turn to geneticists and biologists to complete the picture (and vice versa).
If we look at it from a “the mind is what the brain does” aspect, we can see that multiple species are capable of producing the symptoms of depression. And I think arguments of ignoring the issue just because it may be (emphasis on the ‘may’) an evolutionary advantageous trait (which is not to be confused with individually advantageous) are a bit off.
Even one-off or rare episodes of depression should be addressed. I don’t think the researchers’ point was to say “ignore depression, it’s natural.” But rather, “let’s look at it in a different light in view of these findings.” As a person who has had the rare occasion of depression (as defined by the dictionary quote offered in my comment above) I found a lot of what they had to say spot on. Perhaps this is anecdotal at best, but it was followed by some extreme changes (positive ones, I think) in how I looked at my roles, identity and what I wanted to accomplish.
Acute or chronic depression needs some form of addressing, as we can see the debilitating effects it has. Episodic depression generally has a tapering off period. Lots of people get depressed but I think because of how we talk about it in society, it’s seen in the realm that really should be reserved for the most extreme cases.
This is where elements of positive psychology come into play, but there are other takes on that that I think deserve some caution as it’s looked at by some as a way of doing away with large swaths of human emotion seen as “negative.”
October 27th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
[...] The upside of depression. Obviously severe depression is bad. But The Psych Student explores how a little depression could actually be a good thing. [...]
October 28th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
“last night’s Race & Intelligence programme” I saw that! I thought they handled things very well considering; looking at race, class, society and a whole variety of factors. I did almost throw something at the screen when the guy started rambling on about pelvis sizes though.
And now for my anecdotal evidence
Thankfully I’ve never had to cope with it myself but my significant other went through several months of severe depression last year, brought on by a variety of factors. And although it may have indeed helped focus his attention during his finals, it also meant I was watching someone I loved just diminishing in front of me, entering a state where they simple could not cope with anything. And when he actually went to get medical care, he didn’t dare tell anyone, afraid of the stigma of the whole issue.
But I do agree with your point that there is a lot more to life than just being ‘happy’, and a lot that you can get out of emotions usually seen as ‘negative’. In the same way when people try to cheer me up by saying ‘don’t be sad!’ it tends to irritate me. I *am* sad, there is usually a good *reason* for me to be sad, and all I want is for you to maybe sit with me until the sad goes away, not tell me I shouldn’t be feeling it.
People do have the right to be sad, miserable, or even a little depressed. It’s when they get to the stage where they can’t *cope* with that, I think that no benefit should be worth it, and it’s probably worth seeking medical advice.
And congrats on the editor’s choice!
October 28th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
[...] The upside of depression. Obviously severe depression is bad. But The Psych Student explores how a little depression could actually be a good thing. [...]
October 30th, 2009 at 1:03 am
[...] The Psych Student » Blog Archive » The upside of depression The argument for depression- it should not be so abhorrent as it is now- [...]
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Interesting topic. I wonder if it isn’t more likely that the *threat* of sadness is adaptive (because the motivation of avoiding pain drives pretty much all our achievements), but that the actual experience of depression is pointless. We may well need the gene, and the occasional experience of sadness, to remind us that we’d prefer to feel something more positive, and inspire us to take steps to get there. But if we’re “using” the gene all the time, it means something has gone wrong; the mechanism has been hijacked or disrupted by something that was not present in the environment in which it originally evolved. Just like drugs can hijack the dopamine reward system, or a diet of calorie-dense food can disrupt the body’s insulin balance.
That’s not to say we are ill unless we are completely happy. But we are probably ill if we give up the striving to be happy. It is the striving that sustains us, even though the goal is unattainable. And to preserve the striving, we can’t afford to admit to ourselves the impossibility of the goal. We must keep insisting that lasting happiness is just around the next corner, and keep feeling puzzled and frustrated when it eludes us again. This is why “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” is the most profound statement ever made about the human condition.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Written from a person who obviously never had a depression. I’ve had, and no, there arent’t many good things on depression.
People kill themselves because of depression. Do you think people do that because a depression let’s make you good decissions? Because depression is, after all, not so bad? People cry for hours, day after day, people are so afraid, they’re sure (!!!) their life will always be like that! They are desperate…
Also, depression isn’t as highly treatable like you learn in the lessons of psychology. No, CBT isn’t a highly effective treatment! Depression is considered more and more as a chronic disease. Because it comes and it goes… and it comes back! 50-70% of the people who had 2 episodes, wille have a third in the next 2 years. If you had 3 episodes, it’s almost sure you will have another one. And if you know that a depression lasts 6-9 months, you can understand that a a new depression in a period of 2 years isn’t so interesting.
Depression lets you think about things? NO, depression is worrying, over and over again. You don’t think, you turn in circles… that’s not effective, is it? Depressed people don’t find solutions for their problems, their thaughts are highly ineffective… They think in circles. The whole day, even at night, they ruminate about the same topics, day after day. But of course, they don’t need distraction, like the article states… It’s better to think, without distraction, for months, also at night. Because that is highly effective!!!???
Not sleeping so you can think? Did you ever sleep really, really bad for a period of a couple of months? Or let’s say, for 1 week? You were able, after this week, to think well? You were able to find a solution for your problems? Sleeping is essential to be able to function well, to think well. Why is it so important for students to sleep well in the period of their exams, if ‘not sleeping’ is so effective to think and find a solution for your problems? Why not trying to do an exam after a week (or 6 months) of sleeping +/- 4 hours?
Depression is not: ’sleeping bad for 1 week’, it is ’sleeping bad for months’! So that’s an excellent condition to restore well, isn’t it?
A moderate depression? Forget it! With a bit of ‘luck’ (according to those people), you’ll have a recidivisme. And another one, even if you have/ had CBT!! So that means: another 6-9 months (or longer: a recidivism is more difficult to treat) of pain, of being afraid, crying for hours and being desperate… Have you ever been afraid, really deadly afraid for ‘nothing’? Nothing, except the conviction (!!) that this is your destiny? Have you ever been so afraid, did you ever cried for hours, day after day, month after month, that it hurts, it really hurts, you really feel physical (!!!) pain? So you’re sure the only thing you can do is killing yourself because you can’t stand it anymore? Because you know (!!) it won’t change anymore? Even if it will change, that’s not how somebody with a depression thinks: he knows it will never go better!
That is depression! So this article is really really bullshit!
So you have to make a distinction between someone with a depression (not being sad!) and someone who is chronically depressed?? That’s humor! About 50% of the people who had 1 episode will have another.
Depression is the hell on earth! And now, there are people who claim: oh, look, depression isn’t as bad as it looks…
It makes me sick, because they don’t even know what they are talking about!
By the way: this is not personally against the writer of this blog! A first look is telling me that you’ve posted some interesting articles. ;o)
But, it’s shocking to see how some (!) researchers (scientists!) think about depression…
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Thanks for the article but it’s LITTERED with spelling errors. There are 4 in a single sentence alone.
Did you read this before posting, or even care?
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:46 pm
You’re angry.