The Evolution of Depression

Does it have a role?

The following is a summary of an ABC Radio National interview that Natasha Mitchell conducted with evolutionary biologists, Ed Hagan and Paul Watson in January 2005. 

The full transcript is on the ABC Radio National website (links directly to the transcript)
 

Major and minor depression, even post partum depression – could they serve an important evolutionary function?

Is depression a biological pathology or an adaptation, critical to our reproductive success and survival as a species?

In this ABC Radio National program, Natasha Mitchell is joined by two evolutionary biologists who argue that our capacity to be depressed has evolved over millennia to help us respond to and cope with difficult social circumstances.

It’s a deeply controversial thesis that, they argue, could have implications for how we read and treat depression in a therapeutic setting. But critics are concerned about what these implications might be.