Interesting hypothesis. However, isn't depression sometimes getting in the way of pursuing perfectly attainable goals? For example, finding more friends or losing a bit of weight are definitely not overly ambitious goals, but depressed people often despair that they will never be able to reach them.
From the opening paragraph: [He] likens the relationship between mild and clinical depression to the one between normal and chronic pain. He sees both pain and low mood as warning mechanisms and thinks that, just as understanding chronic pain means first understanding normal pain, so understanding clinical depression means understanding mild depression.
In other words, yes, people with clinical depression find that it gets in the way of their daily life. His hypothesis is about why normal, healthy people suffer from low mood / mild depression from time-to-time, and what evolutionary advantage that might give us.
isn't depression sometimes getting in the way of pursuing perfectly attainable goals?
It certainly plays out that way in actual medical cases, and cognitive therapy for depression is all about showing patients that they can still succeed in goal-directed behavior.
Perhaps the hypothesis would apply more to the approach/situation rather than the goal.
If depressed people despair that they cannot find new friends or lose some weight, maybe the depression might direct them to try something new. That's how I see the idea presented here. (Unfortunately, you're right that many people are quick to give up and deem a goal impossible.)
Comments
Interesting hypothesis. However, isn't depression sometimes getting in the way of pursuing perfectly attainable goals? For example, finding more friends or losing a bit of weight are definitely not overly ambitious goals, but depressed people often despair that they will never be able to reach them.
From the opening paragraph: [He] likens the relationship between mild and clinical depression to the one between normal and chronic pain. He sees both pain and low mood as warning mechanisms and thinks that, just as understanding chronic pain means first understanding normal pain, so understanding clinical depression means understanding mild depression.
In other words, yes, people with clinical depression find that it gets in the way of their daily life. His hypothesis is about why normal, healthy people suffer from low mood / mild depression from time-to-time, and what evolutionary advantage that might give us.
isn't depression sometimes getting in the way of pursuing perfectly attainable goals?
It certainly plays out that way in actual medical cases, and cognitive therapy for depression is all about showing patients that they can still succeed in goal-directed behavior.
Perhaps the hypothesis would apply more to the approach/situation rather than the goal.
If depressed people despair that they cannot find new friends or lose some weight, maybe the depression might direct them to try something new. That's how I see the idea presented here. (Unfortunately, you're right that many people are quick to give up and deem a goal impossible.)