This article gives some insight into what is now the leading cause of disability in the US I have had my share of "down time" in my life. According to some of the psychiatrists and anthropologists, the role of depression is to defer some brain activities to allow focus in a time of distraction. The explanation fits as a reason for social withdrawal and rumination in depressives.
The debate is over whether medications really resolve what is a cognitive style and that relapse after DC-ing medications are 71% after one year. Cognitive therapy has a much lower relapse 31% rate. The pertinent argument against this is that there are certain organic causes for depression that are not amenable to talk therapy.
The research of Redfield-Jamison on artists and scientists and correlation to depression is that they are nine times as likely to have depression. The iron grip that it can have on one's mind is a call to change in spite of the odds. It also serves to bring the brain to keep itself in the working memory and not be distracted by food sex or pleasure seeking behavior.As painful as this can be, the isolation can bring about a deep analytical form of thought that allows for complexity to be understood. Writers also test higher rates of depression. The solitude necessary for the production of literature come from these states. The danger is romanticizing the disease. It kills in the form of suicide which increases as we approach maggothood.
I still think my life would not have been the same without the effects of this melancholic illness. I was "soulful" even as a teenager(sic)and my moods have been at times difficult as evidenced by work vs education curve. The denial of this is generational. Men are evolving to deal with the complexities of a post-modern society but not without paying a heavy cost. Symbolic violence, as manifested in video games and video wars, leaves a certain proportion unable to cope with the psychic loss of power while uncoupling from nature. Biotechnology allows us to play God and our minds are using our cleverness in ways that are deeply painful to some. I feel this my empathy has emerged as how I am coping with the black dog. Taking anti-depressants did not take away my deep craving for meaning nor did they bring me the ever elusive joy. Hard work, dedication, and perserverance(the great Protestant values) are the sources of greatest satisfaction. As the symptomology describes, the accomplishments are easily lost in the murky fog of depressive illness. Self-loathing dispair and ego-loss are defenses against having to defend oneself against attack after injury. The self-deprecation that make up the comic routines of stand-up performers come from deep pain of seeing life too realistically and amusing to others which is another effect of depression in the world.
I think the necessity of exercise in multi-disiplinary therapy is important in changing the brian's seritonin levels which are not discussed in this article. It may be that diet and stress response style are also key factors, hence once more I reiterate the theme of sensitivity and therefore empathic tendencies in the population.
Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com
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