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The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior
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Is depression "evolutionary" or just "adaptive"? A comment.

Christopher F Sharpley1, Vicki Bitsika

  • 1Brain & Behaviour Research Group, University of New England, New South Wales, P.O. Box 378, Coolangatta, Qld, 4225, Australia.

Depression Research and Treatment
|December 15, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Depression may offer short-term adaptive benefits, such as withdrawal from negative environments. However, it does not meet the biological criteria for being evolutionary, despite recent theories.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Recent theories propose depression may be evolutionary.
  • These theories suggest advantages arise from depressive symptomatology.
  • Depressive behavior, like withdrawal, may offer short-term adaptive benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate the evolutionary explanations of depression.
  • To determine if depressive behavior meets the biological definition of evolutionary.
  • To discuss implications for research and clinical practice.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of the criteria for natural selection in evolutionary biology.
  • Comparison of depressive symptomatology and behavior against these criteria.
  • Review of existing literature on evolutionary psychology and depression.

Main Results:

  • Depression's withdrawal behavior can be adaptive in the short-term.
  • Depression does not meet two of the three required criteria for natural selection.
  • Therefore, depression is not evolutionary in the biological sense.

Conclusions:

  • While some aspects of depression are adaptive, it cannot be accurately termed evolutionary.
  • The distinction between adaptive and evolutionary is crucial for understanding depression.
  • Findings necessitate a re-evaluation of research and clinical approaches to depression.