Fable

▲ NYTimes Depression’s Upside ▼

Jonah Lehrer:

The alternative [theory], of course, is that depression has a secret purpose and our medical interventions are making a bad situation even worse. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection -- increased body temperature sends white blood cells into overdrive -- depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer -- we suffer terribly -- but we don't suffer in vain.

His description of the analytic-rumination hypothesis:

Rumination is largely rooted in working memory, a kind of mental scratchpad that allows us to “work” with all the information stuck in consciousness. When people rely on working memory — and it doesn’t matter if they’re doing long division or contemplating a relationship gone wrong — they tend to think in a more deliberate fashion, breaking down their complex problems into their simpler parts.

The bad news is that this deliberate thought process is slow, tiresome and prone to distraction; the prefrontal cortex soon grows exhausted and gives out. Andrews and Thomson see depression as a way of bolstering our feeble analytical skills, making it easier to pay continuous attention to a difficult dilemma. The downcast mood and activation of the VLPFC [capacity for intense focus] are part of a “coordinated system” that, Andrews and Thomson say, exists “for the specific purpose of effectively analyzing the complex life problem that triggered the depression.” If depression didn’t exist — if we didn’t react to stress and trauma with endless ruminations — then we would be less likely to solve our predicaments. Wisdom isn’t cheap, and we pay for it with pain.

This theory is very similar to my recent post, It's What You Learn, Not What You Think. I assume we don't just break down complex problems into simpler parts. These simpler parts give rise to experience which is a form of testing and learning. In this manner, we also create new "justified beliefs."

Musings on Posttraumatic Growth:

Growth Needs Sadness
Posttraumatic Growth From Awe
Growth Needs Sadness

A related essay:

Peanut Butter: Able, Worthy and Wise