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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.'"
You just have to think about marvin the paranoid android...
Break the sound barrier - bring the noise.
I'm going to have to think about this...
You have higher cognitive ability, you realize how the world runs, you get depressed. Not the other way 'round.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I am lazy and I did a quick google and couldn't find a link...
However, I remember reading about a study in my college Psychology class that pointed to the fact that people depressed actually have a *clearer* view of reality when compared to the non-depressed. It's a rose colored glasses type of effect. When given questions about certain situations, clinically depressed persons tended to give more answers that matched up with the real-world reality of situations than the non-depressed.
In other words the world is shit I am justified in being depressed all the time.
... I'm all depressed and thought I would come to Slashdot and read some funny comments. That'll cheer me up, right? No one RTFA? Snarky posts for +5 Funny? All I found was an article reminding me how god damned depressed I am.
I find it much more difficult to think logically about my own emotional problems when I am depressed. In that state, introspection is likely to lead to more depression. That's why it's referred to as a vicious cycle — depression is depressing! So it might be easier to figure out other people's problems but I'm skeptical that it actually leads to solutions to one's own social problems. Then again, perhaps that's just because I'm personally poorly socialized.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I've been struggling with a real tough problem, and getting more and more depressed.
Now I read this, and I have hope of solving it! woo hoo!
I can't tell you how happy I am!
wait....
Most mental disorders are a result of an otherwise normal or useful mental process run-amok. Happiness and energy are good, but take them too far and you've got mania. Organization and hygine are good, but take them too far and you get OCD. Depression when half your family just died in a car wreck and your life is in turmoil is a normal part of coping, depression all the time when nothing is particularly wrong is a disease.
Not every depressed person drifts to suicide. Some of us just become miserable cynical bastards.
Kind of like Goth vs Emo - one wants to kill you, while the other wants to kill himself.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Honestly, we all know that there are things like "taking things too seriously" and "taking things too lightly". Depression isn't there as a cruel joke to make miserable people more miserable, it's to make sure that in a grave situation you take a honest look at the situation and deal with it. It's a natural self-defense mechanism that for example you probably wouldn't want to have sex, get pregnant and have a child in a bad situation, being a leftover from before contraception. Of course some people get too much of it, just like others want to cuddle the cute grizzly bear and don't see a problem until they make a Darwin award of themselves. Very few aspects of typical human behavior is really that irrational, though it can be really out of place in the modern world.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
While depressive people tend to consider a problem very intensely and break it into lots of sub-problems and try to analyze what could have happened if some options were different, all those - ruminations (as the summary states) - still lead to nothing because the all the shit has already hit the fan and there is nothing that can undone that. so the thoughts go round and round and round again.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
But chronic pain is not so wonderful.
Having an immune system is also beneficial to survival. Multiple sclerosis, not so great.
This is basically where people who are prone to depression have markedly less influence by illusiory conditions. They view the world as it is, without the rose tinted spectacles of the non-depressed.
This gives a general predisposition towards problem solving and accurate assessment of situations, allowing the excision of the personal investment in problems, treating the problem as a more logical construct, which overall leads to better problem solving (which has been researched since the late 70s and 80s).
However, depression being what it is, it doesn't make life around a depressed person any easier, and isn't that great for the depressed person themselves (I speak as one that's prone to that state of mind and have to be a little careful from time to time; it does make things in my favourite field of IT Business Continuity seem somewhat easier than it does for most though, with me jokingly being accused of having enough paranoia for the whole hospital).
The trouble with "Depressive Realism" is that it's not entirely evident whether it's the realistic state of mind that brings about depression (having trouble with the normal chit chat that greases the social wheels, yet goes nowhere, is a real drag and will definitely get you down), or whether it's the depressive state of mind that leaves you more objective.
Jesus Christ, those are the two choices?
Fuck.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
Ruminant depression is a different order of magnitude from end-of-universe major depression. Which do they mean?
Sherwin Nuland on electroshock therapy
At the other end of the spectrum, it's just a mood disorder (and working title of Annie Hall).
Anhedonia
Years ago I read an article about stress and the immune system. The claim was that under stress, the immune cells leave the blood stream and enter into the skin cells. Hence the collapse of immune levels in the blood stream. Stress is often associated with physical confrontation. Perhaps under this circumstance the body is more concerning about fighting off infection from skin trauma than whether the last meal was a mite tainted, or some child has picked up a sneeze.
I haven't seen this followed up, but does it really make sense that body's response to stress is to shut down the immune system? Never to me, it didn't.
Another great one is the doctors instructing you that "whatever your itch system conveys, ignore it".
'Itchy' neurons tell mice when to scratch
So we have an entire nervous subsystem devoted to itch, and our only response is to not listen?
I read an article that the appendix is now believed to act as a pocket of gut bacteria to restart the gut after a core dump.
And then there was the whole thing about "junk DNA" where junk is apparently a scientific word meaning "you can't write a successful grant to study this". From another perspective, at the original sequencing cost of $1 per base pair, I can feel their pain.
I get mighty tired of the scientific meme "functionless until proved grantable". Were the scientists originally responsible for this, or the surgeons?
How many doctors does it take to change a light bulb? Three, but while they're at it, they'll change the socket too.
"Alpha children wear grey They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfuly glad I'm a Beta "
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.