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The biology of depression is the attempt to identify a biochemical origin of depression, as opposed to theories that emphasize psychological or situational causes. Scientific studies have found that different brain areas show altered activity in humans with major depressive disorder (MDD) . [ 1 ]
One reason depression is thought to be a pathology is that it causes so much psychic pain and distress. However, physical pain is also very distressful, yet it has an evolved function: to inform the organism that it is being damaged, to motivate it to withdraw from the source of damage, and to learn to avoid such damage-causing circumstances in the future.
While depression is a complex condition with many factors involved, it is commonly attributed to an imbalance of several key monoamine neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. This monoamine hypothesis of depression is popular because of the simplicity of the explanation. [4]
Depression is a significant mental illness with physiological and psychological consequences, including sluggishness, diminished interest and pleasure, and disturbances in sleep and appetite. [1] It is predicted that by the year 2030, depression will be the number one cause of disability in the United States and other high-income countries. [2]
Evolutionary psychiatry, also known as Darwinian psychiatry, [1] [2] is a theoretical approach to psychiatry that aims to explain psychiatric disorders in evolutionary terms. [3] [4] As a branch of the field of evolutionary medicine, it is distinct from the medical practice of psychiatry in its emphasis on providing scientific explanations rather than treatments for mental disorder.
Figure 1: The adaptive and maladaptive cycles resulting from agonistic (hierarchical) encounters. [5]Unlike other evolutionary explanations of depression, rank theory is able to explain why depression is incapacitating: [1] by functioning as a substitute for physical damage, incapacitation prevents the 'loser' from posing a threat to the competitor they challenged.
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