Evolutionary theories of depression: overview and perspectives

Tavares, Andreza Conceição de Souza; Lima, Rebeca Fernandes Ferreira; Tokumaru, Rosana Suemi

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Article • Psicol. USP 32 • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6564e200003 copy

Evolutionary theories of depression: overview and perspectives

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Abstract

Depression has reached epidemic levels worldwide. Would that be a mental disorder, as claimed by consensus on mental health? Evolutionary theorists have questioned the function of depression and proposed specific models to explain it. The aim of this paper is to present the evolutionary theories of depression, to discuss the complementarity and contradictions between these theories, and to present the social and practical implications for the treatment of depression. Those reflections and issues in the field of mental health may influence further studies from a non-pathological perspective of depression. In the field of psychology, this perspective provides insights to reevaluate psychotherapy to treat depression by focusing on causal analysis and problem solving. The study suggests that new empirical studies should be conducted to test and systematize evolutionary theories of depression.

Keywords:
evolutionary psychology; depression; adaptation; deregulation; mental health

Type/model	Hypothesis	Causes/elicitors of depression	Function of depression	Definition	Authors (main)
Adaptive	Social competition hypothesis	In the chronic form, it appears due to the low "potential for resource conservation"; in the acute form, due to the drop in the "potential for resource conservation"	Conflict resolution involving social competition	Involuntary subordination strategy.	Price et al. (1994Price, J., Sloman, L., Gardner, R., Gilbert, P., & Rohde, P. (1994). The social competition hypothesis of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164(3), 309-315. doi: 10.1192/bjp.164.3.309 https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.164.3.309... )
	Social bargaining hypothesis	It is triggered when individuals realize that they are suffering costs that the actions of the group members can alleviate	Signals to other group members that someone is suffering costs	It is a strategy (unconscious) of bargaining (negotiation) in humans	Hagen (1999Hagen, E. H. (1999). The functions of postpartum depression. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20(5), 325-359. doi: 10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00016-1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00... , 2002Hagen, E. H. (2002). Depression as bargaining: the case postpartum. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23(5), 323-336. doi: 10.1016/S1090-5138(01)00102-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(01)00... , 2003Hagen, E. H. (2003). The bargaining model of depression. In P. Hammerstein (Ed.), Genetic and cultural evolution of cooperation (pp. 95-123). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.)
	Social navigation hypothesis	Social conflict	Garner social support and solve complex social problems	It is a type of emotional pain	Watson and Andrews (2002Watson, P. J., & Andrews, P. W. (2002). Toward a revised evolutionary adaptationist analysis of depression: the social navigation hypothesis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 72(1), 1-14. doi: 10.1016/S0165-0327(01)00459-1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(01)00... )
	Analytical rumination hypothesis	Elicited by analytically complex problems	Resolution of analytically complex problems through causal analysis and problem-solving	A stress response mechanism	Andrews and Thomson (2009Andrews, P. W., & Thomson, J. A., Jr. (2009). The bright side of being blue: Depression as an adaptation for analyzing complex problems. Psychological Review. doi: 10.1037/a0016242 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016242... )
Non-adaptive	Individual differences	There is an ideal reactivity distribution of the affection systems in the population.	-	It is deregulation that appears in vulnerable individuals	Nettle (2004Nettle, D. (2004). Evolutionary origins of depression: A review and reformulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 81(2), 91-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2003.08.009 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2003.08.00... )
	Individual differences	Being at the upper limit of this distribution leads to vulnerability	-	It is deregulation that appears in vulnerable individuals
	Deregulation	Serious life events	-	It is affection deregulation.	Nesse (2000Nesse, R. M. (2000). Is depression an adaptation? Archives of general psychiatry, 57(1), 14-20. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.57.1.14 https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.57.1.14... )

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