• Lucytorial said on Aug 28, 2009....

  What you have failed to provide here is an overview, just a snippet.  Depression is dangerous when left unchecked, socially as well as physically in many people.
  
  This idea that it is the brains way of dealing with a complex problem fails to explain why many seriously depressed patients develope schitzophrenia, violent tendancies, as well as phobias and serious paranoia.  This is not a healthy way of dealing with a complex problem.
   
  Sheesh some doctors reach.

• sheltercrow said on Aug 28, 2009....

  As the article first posted above explains...
  
  
  ...we argue that depression is in fact an adaptation, a state of mind which brings real costs, but also brings 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. Some can plunge into severe, lengthy, and even life-threatening bouts of depression.
  
  
  I would frame it like this...
  
  ...an adaptation that man, in todays complex world, cannot, intellectually and emotionally, bear without serious psychological consequences.
  
  The brain has undergone millions of years of evolution and has a an unfathomable number of neurological defense structures, some functioning, most not, that simply do not function as they were evolved for, in todays world. Hence depression, "[schizophrenia], violent tendancies, phobias," paranoia, et. el.
  
  The life span for the brain has increased from a few decades to almost a century. Almost all of the neurological mechanisms that have evolved, and were designed to manage our lives, are either useless, overworked or used far beyond their evolutionary biological clock.
  

• beyondtheveil said on Aug 31, 2009....

  I once had a long held belief that severe depression was a chemical imbalance but have partly put this thinking aside for many reasons. Suicidal people are most times not depressives (it seems), but have encountered an unresolvable problem.
  
  My own two decade experience with depression has taught things I would not have considered otherwise. For instance, it can actually be a comfortable place and therapists have agreed there are those who have related this same feeling to them. Although I have never consciously sought out depression for comfort, it can be a 'safe' area. This was also validated as probable by therapists.
  
  I've found the most intense thinking I've ever done was during depressed states. And I've found that intense thought was by far mostly constructive, which by no means implies it is 'healthy'. Many of our great thinkers, writers, scientists, were depressives and it is possible much of their great work were made possible in depressive states.
  
  Just thoughts of mine.
  

• sheltercrow said on Aug 31, 2009....

  Re: beyondtheveil
  
  Have also had therapy for extended periods for same. And I can validate your comment with personal experience.
  
  As for "it can be a 'safe' area" I described it to my psychatrist in a similar fashion.
  
  My psychiatrist calls 'intense thinking... done... during depressed states' as 'ruminating on the past too much.' The ruminating being part of the 'encountered an unresolvable problem' thing. It's seems to be a common thread among depressives.
  
  I would also add that, it seems to me, these excess ruminations seem to stem from a early divergence between ones personal understanding of what it is to be human and ones observance of the human behavior one encounters. One either becomes a depressive or a sociopath. Depressives have chosen to question and sociopaths have chosen to accept.
  

• beyondtheveil said on Aug 31, 2009....

  shelter- You said 'one either becomes a depressive or sociopath'. It was my belief from reading that sociopathy is inherited or is the result of an underdeveloped nervous system. True sociopaths seem to exhibit symptoms at an early age as do serial killers.
  
  I was of the mind environment could could further develop sociopathy, but that a true sociopath's formation was rooted in pre-birth development. Have you read otherwise?
  

• sheltercrow said on Sep 01, 2009....

  A good point. My gut feeling is that genetics only come in to play when one is exposed to early trauma. Meaning that the genetics may exist but is not a sole determinant. The same genetics will not develop the pathology associated with sociopaths if one is not exposed to early trauma. Here is a better explanation:
  
  
  While some individuals may be more vulnerable to developing antisocial personality disorder as a result of their particular genetic background [part of the brain that is primarily responsible for learning from one's mistakes and for responding to sad and fearful facial expressions (the amygdala) tends to be smaller and respond less robustly to the happy, sad, or fearful facial expressions of others], that is thought to be a factor only when the person is also exposed to life events such as abuse or neglect that tend to put the person at risk for development of the disorder. Similarly, while there are some theories about the role of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and other hormonal fluctuations in the development of antisocial personality disorder, the disorder can, so far, not be explained as the direct result of such abnormalities. [What causes antisocial personality disorder? medicinenet Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD]
  

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