Posted by fallsfall on April 3, 2004, at 13:30:33
In reply to the evolutionary role of depression, posted by octopusprime on April 3, 2004, at 8:17:56
Very interesting.
I believe in the function of depression as a catalyst for change. I guess that sometimes it works effectively and people make changes they need and then they feel better. I'm wondering if in my case I was unable to make the changes that I needed to make, and so it spiraled down to a point where now I have to make changes to get rid of my "depression lifestyle" before I can start looking at the changes that were initially needed.
I also do believe that there is a physical (hereditary) component that makes certain people more susceptable to depression. Some people get depressed when things are going well for them, some only get depressed under the most awful circumstances. Why would the depressive genes not be selected out? In some cases, reacting strongly to situations is adaptive. In other cases, the depression doesn't show until people have already had children (my dad's only Manic episode was when he was 50, I didn't show clinical signs of depression until I was 38 and had already had 3 children).
In keeping with these ideas, I think that it is unwise to treat depression only with medication (because I think that there IS something in the person's environment that needs to be changed). So I am a strong advocate of therapy. I do believe, however, that medications are required in some cases (including mine) so that the person can function well enough to benefit from the therapy in a reasonable period of time.
Thanks for pointing out a very interesting program!
poster:fallsfall
thread:332029
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040402/msgs/332105.html