The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic

by Jonathan Rottenberg

When I noticed other people, I wondered what it was like to be alive. They did not know, could not know, how I felt inside. My shell still passed for normal. I felt like I should scream for help, someone should help, but I knew that the time for screaming had passed. Best to just keep on walking, walking dead, one of the few things I could still do. So I kept on walking. Optimism spent, still I couldn’t accept an unacceptable fate.

One reason we’re not winning the fight against depression is that our available treatments leave so many in partial recovery limbo.

Like shallow depression, limbo is dangerous. During this precarious stage, mood-worsening behaviors, like remaining committed to unrealistic goals, engaging in destructive responses to low mood (e.g., excessive drinking, drug abuse), and retaining unrealistic expectations for mood, afford routes through which deep depression can reemerge.