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I think it could.... It is the "do not keep doing the same thing if it isn't working". Of course we are in a novel high stress environment so I think it can b

I think it could.... It is the "do not keep doing the same thing if it isn't working". Of course we are in a novel high stress environment so I think it can be triggered erroneously or we just need to now live through really shitty situations at work, etc. I wonder if antidepressants in some cases encourage an individual to stick out/survive a situation they should really be escaping from?

jackhack 9y ago
I think you're onto it. If an organism is not successful in whatever circumstance, then it is for the benefit of the herd (and species) that the individual drop out and not propagate its genes further. It is a braking mechanism. A psychic-emotional watchdog.
- louithethrid 9y ago
  I think that is to one dimensional a view. Many organisms come into situations they are not really fit to survive- society is complex, there are lots of dark corners where specialisation is needed. If you are a social party animal and by inheritance suddenly have to become a 24/7 CEO of a company,without any breaks and non stop political power plays - depression is not indicating that you are unworthy or something. It indicates that you want to migrate in society, away from a unhealthy environment- you detach yourself from the people you have to deal with and wait for reattachment with a better crowd. Sort of the eject capsule from bad influence you do not want to adapt.
- mamon 9y ago
  I don't think that suicide (logicaly following from "not propagate its genes further") is an actual objective of depression. It is probably more about forcing an individual to think their problem through - that's what you do when you are depressed, constantly thinking about all the things that went wrong in your life. Thing is, in primitive, savannah environment all problems were simple enough that they could be solved by just few hours/days of thinking and planning. Nowadays we live in civilized society which poses much bigger challenges, which cannot be easily fixed. That's why depression can extend to weeks/months, and after that time it becomes chronic condition, even when the actual problems that caused it has already gone away.
  - hutzlibu 9y ago
    Yes, you think things through, but if you ultimately don't find a solution, you choose suicide. (or maybe in old Savannah times, just lying aphatic around for ages maybe meant the same, with getting eaten by a lion) But I would also argue, I that even in primitiv societies, things could get very complex - because their daily life involved also lots of deamons, spirits, ect. you had a bad dream, but that might mean that an enemy sorcerer tried to kill you and now you needed to figure out who and what to do against it ...
- bhouston 9y ago
  I was thinking more of a temporary depression that is situational dependent.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
badosu 9y ago
> Of course we are in a novel high stress environment so I think it can be triggered erroneously or we just need to now live through really shitty situations at work, etc. I wonder if this is something new or that only was misreported or not documented. Maybe living on modern society in huge metropolitan areas, where no local sense of community, thus lacking cooperative behaviour incentive indeed has these effects as human society never would have scaled evolutionary to this level before. Or maybe it was just underrepresented chronologically and just now we have the luxury of mostly not starving if we don't work to get the food, allied with the huge complexity layer of things to beware about these days. So fundamentally my question is if we just would not report or pay attention or attribute to sobrenatural stuff, like demon possession and indeed there was already depression and other 'modern' mental issues; or if this always existed and just now we have the luxury to look at it.
ams6110 9y ago
Yeah I can't remember the source but a few years ago I read that depression is your brain's way of telling you that you need to change something in your life. Move somewhere new, get a new job, end a bad relationship, could be anything. Figuring out what needs to change might be the hard part.

jackhack 9y ago

I think you're onto it. If an organism is not successful in whatever circumstance, then it is for the benefit of the herd (and species) that the individual drop out and not propagate its genes further. It is a braking mechanism. A psychic-emotional watchdog.

louithethrid 9y ago
I think that is to one dimensional a view. Many organisms come into situations they are not really fit to survive- society is complex, there are lots of dark corners where specialisation is needed. If you are a social party animal and by inheritance suddenly have to become a 24/7 CEO of a company,without any breaks and non stop political power plays - depression is not indicating that you are unworthy or something. It indicates that you want to migrate in society, away from a unhealthy environment- you detach yourself from the people you have to deal with and wait for reattachment with a better crowd. Sort of the eject capsule from bad influence you do not want to adapt.
mamon 9y ago
I don't think that suicide (logicaly following from "not propagate its genes further") is an actual objective of depression. It is probably more about forcing an individual to think their problem through - that's what you do when you are depressed, constantly thinking about all the things that went wrong in your life. Thing is, in primitive, savannah environment all problems were simple enough that they could be solved by just few hours/days of thinking and planning. Nowadays we live in civilized society which poses much bigger challenges, which cannot be easily fixed. That's why depression can extend to weeks/months, and after that time it becomes chronic condition, even when the actual problems that caused it has already gone away.
- hutzlibu 9y ago
  Yes, you think things through, but if you ultimately don't find a solution, you choose suicide. (or maybe in old Savannah times, just lying aphatic around for ages maybe meant the same, with getting eaten by a lion) But I would also argue, I that even in primitiv societies, things could get very complex - because their daily life involved also lots of deamons, spirits, ect. you had a bad dream, but that might mean that an enemy sorcerer tried to kill you and now you needed to figure out who and what to do against it ...
bhouston 9y ago
I was thinking more of a temporary depression that is situational dependent.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

badosu 9y ago

> Of course we are in a novel high stress environment so I think it can be triggered erroneously or we just need to now live through really shitty situations at work, etc. I wonder if this is something new or that only was misreported or not documented. Maybe living on modern society in huge metropolitan areas, where no local sense of community, thus lacking cooperative behaviour incentive indeed has these effects as human society never would have scaled evolutionary to this level before. Or maybe it was just underrepresented chronologically and just now we have the luxury of mostly not starving if we don't work to get the food, allied with the huge complexity layer of things to beware about these days. So fundamentally my question is if we just would not report or pay attention or attribute to sobrenatural stuff, like demon possession and indeed there was already depression and other 'modern' mental issues; or if this always existed and just now we have the luxury to look at it.

ams6110 9y ago

Yeah I can't remember the source but a few years ago I read that depression is your brain's way of telling you that you need to change something in your life. Move somewhere new, get a new job, end a bad relationship, could be anything. Figuring out what needs to change might be the hard part.