Medical and Fitness

Depression should not be regarded as a disorder but as a process of adaptation, according to an analysis published in the journal Psychological Review. This perspective calls into question current approaches to treating depression in psychotherapy.

An argument for this view comes from research on the serotonin receptor 5HT1A, say the authors, Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson Jr. of the University of Virginia. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter heavily involved in depression and is the target of most antidepressants.

The rodents that have a low level of 5HT1A fewer symptoms of depression in response to stress, suggesting that this receptor is involved in the development of depression. (Pharmaceutical companies are currently developing a next generation of antidepressants that target this receptor).

People with depression often think hard about their problems. These thoughts are called ruminations, are persistent and depressed people have trouble thinking of something else. Several studies have shown that this style of thinking is often very analytical, dividing a complex problem into smaller components which are considered one at a time.

The problem analysis, the authors argue, requires a lot of thought and continuous depression coordinates several changes in the body to help the person to analyze their problems without being distracted. Studies of depression in rodents show that the 5HT1A receptor provides nerve cells in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the fuel required for their activation.

The meaning of several other symptoms of depression can be interpreted in light of the idea that the analysis of problems must be uninterrupted. The desire for social isolation, for example, helps one to avoid situations that require thinking about other things. Similarly, the inability to derive pleasure from sex or other activities prevented from engaging in activities that might distract from the problem. Although loss of appetite, often this can be seen as favoring the analysis because of mastication and food-related activities interfere with the brain’s ability to process information.

But there is evidence that depression is useful to analyze complex problems?

First, the authors argue, if depressive ruminations were negative, as most clinicians and researchers assume, episodes of depression should be longer to resolve when people receive interventions that encourage rumination, such as those who ask them to write their thoughts and feelings. But the opposite seems true. Several studies have shown that the writing promoted a more rapid resolution of depression by facilitating a better understanding of problems.

Furthermore, various studies have shown that in states of depressed mood, people are better at solving social dilemmas. It is precisely, the authors say, the kind of problems important enough to require analysis and to justify the evolution of an emotion too expensive. For example, a woman with young children who discovers her husband is unfaithful should ignore it or force it to choose between her and another woman at risk of being abandoned (e)? The laboratory experiment indicate that depressed people are best to solve social dilemmas by a better analysis of costs and benefits of different options.

The depression, the authors believe, is a way to indicate the nature of a complex social problem to solve. Therapies should encourage depressive ruminations rather than trying to prevent them and should aim to help resolve problems at the source of episodes of depression. (There are several therapies that specifically address this, they say). It is also essential in cases where there is a resistance to discuss ruminations, the therapist tries to identify and dismantle these barriers, they added.

The depression seems less a disorder in which the brain goes wrong, they summarize, a highly organized and complex mechanism that performs a specific function.