Past Programs
Evolution - 2004
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The Evolution of Depression - Does it Have a Role?
03/04/2004
Major and minor depression, even post partum depression - could they serve an important evolutionary function? Is depression a biological pathology or an adaptation, critical to our reproductive success and survival as a species? This week, Natasha Mitchell is joined by two evolutionary biologists who argue that our capacity to be depressed has evolved over millennia to help us respond to and cope with difficult social circumstances. It's a deeply controversial thesis that, they argue, could have implications for how we read and treat depression in a therapeutic setting. But critics are concerned about what these implications might be.
