Researchers theorize that depression might have conferred a survival benefit before proper hygiene and antibiotics were available.

1. Possible Benefits to
Depression
Jay Reibel

2. • Ten percent of the U.S. population suffers
from, or is prone to, depression. How can
such a debilitating condition have become
so common in the population? Is it the
stress of modern life or some sort of
influence on brain chemistry? Two
researchers from Emory University in
Georgia have published a paper that
provides a new answer: Natural selection.

3. • The researchers theorize that depression might have
conferred a survival benefit before proper hygiene and
antibiotics were available. They noticed that depression
tends to be accompanied by inflammation and an immune
system on high alert, even when there’s no infection
present. This, in turn, may have protected sufferers from
disease. They point out that many of the symptoms that
accompany depression, such as sleeplessness, withdrawal
from social activities, and loss of appetite, would protect
people from the worst effects of an epidemic by keeping
them alert, away from other people, and away from
infected food supplies.

4. • While depression no longer confers a
survival benefit, researchers believe that
this link with an overactive immune system
may help them find new drugs to treat
people who suffer from depression.

5. • Jay Reibel practiced psychiatric medicine for
many years.