#113: The Evolutionary Origins of Depression With Jonathan Rottenberg

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2015

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Today we refer to depression as a mental illness that needs to be cured as quickly as possible. But our guest today makes the nuanced case that human beings may have evolved to be depressed and that at one time in our prehistoric past it served an adaptive purpose. The problem is that our brain isn't made for this hectic and stressful modern world that we live in. Dr. Jonathan Rottenberg is psychologist specializing in moods and today we discuss the research from his book The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic. Dr. Rottenberg's nuanced view of depression brings some much-needed balance and humanity to the discussion about depression.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For Repicae here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:19.0	So back in March and April, this is March and April of 2015 this year, we did an in-depth
0:25.4	series about depression.
0:27.6	The symptoms of depression, what causes depression, how depression affects men differently
0:31.4	than from women, and also what you can do to manage your depression.
0:36.2	A lot of people resonated with that because they or someone they knew I was struggling
0:40.1	with depression.
0:41.4	And one book that really resonated with me as I was researching for the series was a book
0:47.7	called The Depths, the Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic.
0:52.6	Just by Dr. Jonathan Rottenberg, he is a professor of psychology at the University of
0:57.9	South Florida.
0:58.9	He specializes in emotion, particularly with an emphasis on major depressive disorder.
1:04.2	Anyways, in his book The Depths, he makes the case that depression is actually an evolved
1:12.4	tendency or trait in human beings.
1:14.8	And at one time, it served an adaptive purpose, or long ago, past.
1:21.4	And that today, the reason why we see so many people depressed is that our environment,
1:25.9	we're just not our emotional system isn't set up for our modern environment with all
1:30.4	the stress and lack of sleep, and the sedentary lifestyle, et cetera, et cetera.
1:34.4	It's a fascinating book and it gives you a much more nuanced view of depression.
1:40.1	And so today on the show, Dr. Rottenberg, I'm going to discuss this theory, this evolutionary
1:43.7	theory of the origins of depression.
1:46.2	And then how this view of depression can change how we approach treating it.
	...

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