Depression May Provide Cognitive Advantages

Hugh Pickens writes "Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson, Jr. argue in Scientific American that although depression is considered a mental disorder, depression may in fact be a mental adaptation which provides real benefits. This is not to say that depression is not a problem. Depressed people often have trouble performing everyday activities, they can't concentrate on their work, they tend to socially isolate themselves, they are lethargic, and they often lose the ability to take pleasure from such activities such as eating and sex. So what could be so useful about depression? 'Depressed people often think intensely about their problems,' write the authors. 'These thoughts are called ruminations; they are persistent and depressed people have difficulty thinking about anything else. Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical. They dwell on a complex problem, breaking it down into smaller components, which are considered one at a time.' Various studies have found that people in depressed mood states are better at solving social dilemmas and there is evidence that people who get more depressed while they are working on complex problems in an intelligence test tend to score higher on the test (PDF). '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.'"

Comments

These thoughts are called ruminations

[Junior J. Junior III]

I like the idea that depressed people can have deeper thoughts than everyone else just by calling them some fancy name. I bet that helps them feel better about how shitty their lives are. It's no wonder that Thesaurus and Therapy both start with TH. THPBBBPPP!

Re:wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

OOOOO! 148 IQ.. anyone who posts their IQ on slashdot has to be 1. 'also happens to be' full of shit 2. 'also happens to be' lame as fuck

Re:Reverse causation

[4D6963]

Cry me a fucking river. Seriously, mod me down, but this thread is filling up with pure faggotry from people who enjoy too much looking at how superiorly smart they are and how depressed in romantic proportions they are about bullshit that hardly even affects them or anyone for that matter.

Take that copyright shit, what does it do? Oh noes, there's a thin chance you might get a fined if you distribute copyrighted works? Boo-fucking-hoo! What about anti-terror laws? Are *you* going to Gitmo because the NSA wiretaps everybody and their momma? Who is it going to affect? How long before it's overturned? Cut the fucking crap, no one's doomed. What, the government takes a few percent of your income more than you like? Big fucking deal, that's just a few percents, you won't take them to heaven, and they wouldn't change your life anyways.

What, you're sad cause some kids you never saw in some countries you've never been to before are dying? If you care so much about them join some charity or donate money, or grow some fucking balls and be a man. Everything isn't nice and shiny, but so fucking what, for every person dying there must be something like 1,000 people having great sex and 100,000 people laughing to the tears. So think about that if that makes you happy, or pop some fucking pills if you can't grow a pair and cope with reality.