Depression as an evolutionary adaptation: anatomical organisation around the third ventricle

Medical Hypotheses
C A Hendrie, A R Pickles

Abstract

Currently available antidepressant treatments are no longer seen as the panaceas they once were. Only a proportion of the depressed population respond to them, they have a high relapse rate and a therapeutic lag of several weeks. The notable lack of progress in developing more efficacious drug-based antidepressant therapies over the past half century is a clear signal for the need to adopt new approaches. The current manuscript outlines the proposal that depression is an evolutionary adaptation that emerged where displaced dominants needed to make a transition to lower social status and that is now triggered, in those individuals that have this adaptation, by damage to reproductive potential from any source. The behavioural cluster associated with depression includes adoption of a hunched posture, avoidance of eye contact, loss of appetite for food and sex and sleep disruption. This behavioural cluster serves to reduce an individuals' attack provoking stimuli and so facilitates this social change. When viewed in this context, it becomes clear that many of the brain areas that mediate these behaviours (e.g. the pineal, hypothalamus and amygdala, whose main output, the stria terminalis passes through) all lie in close physical pr...Continue Reading

References

Jul 15, 1977·Science·S T Emlen, L W Oring
Oct 1, 1991·The American Journal of Psychiatry·S Zisook, S R Shuchter
Mar 1, 1990·Environmental Health Perspectives·J L Farber
Dec 1, 1965·Archives of General Psychiatry·W E Bunney, J M Davis
Jan 1, 1983·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·J A Gray, N McNaughton
Jan 1, 1995·European Neuropsychopharmacology : the Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology·J Angst
Apr 1, 1998·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·J T Schelde
Dec 17, 1998·The Journal of Endocrinology·L ArboreliusC B Nemeroff
Jan 12, 1999·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·A K Dixon, H U Fisch
Apr 2, 1999·Trends in Pharmacological Sciences·C A Altar
Jan 12, 2002·Current Opinion in Pharmacology·Derek N MiddlemissJeannette M Watson
Jan 12, 2002·Current Opinion in Pharmacology·Johannes M H M Reul, Florian Holsboer
Feb 2, 2002·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·Paul L StricklandDavid P Goldberg
Aug 13, 2002·Stress : the International Journal on the Biology of Stress·Marja van KampenEberhard Fuchs
Jun 19, 2003·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Ronald C KesslerUNKNOWN National Comorbidity Survey Replication
Aug 6, 2003·The American Journal of Psychiatry·Yvette I ShelineHelena C Kraemer
Mar 14, 1957·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·B B BRODIE, P A SHORE
Jun 1, 1961·Archives of General Psychiatry·A T BECKJ ERBAUGH
Feb 1, 1960·Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry·M HAMILTON
Mar 5, 2004·Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology·Ramin S HastingsJ John Mann
Jul 22, 2004·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Hershel JickSusan S Jick
Nov 4, 2004·Biological Psychiatry·Craig A StockmeierGrazyna Rajkowska
Jul 7, 2005·Journal of Neurochemistry·Céline VermeirenEmmanuel Hermans
Mar 24, 2007·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Lucas Lecourtier, Peter H Kelly
Jun 17, 2008·Nature Neuroscience·Dimitris TsivilisJohn P Aggleton
Nov 22, 2008·Neurobiology of Disease·Rajesh KumarRonald M Harper
Dec 17, 2008·Journal of Psychopharmacology·C A Hendrie
Jan 22, 2009·Journal of Affective Disorders·Judith UsallJosep Maria Haro
Mar 3, 2009·Journal of Affective Disorders·Shannon Hughes, David Cohen
May 22, 2009·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Jack FalcónGilles Boeuf
Jul 21, 2009·Trends in Neurosciences·Gertrudis PereaAlfonso Araque
Sep 2, 2009·Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment·Yogesh Dwivedi

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Jan 31, 2012·Psychiatry Research·Stephanie SchindlerPeter Schönknecht
Dec 12, 2012·Journal of Psychopharmacology·Colin HendrieEmma Robinson
Sep 26, 2014·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Ed DienerShigehiro Oishi
May 17, 2018·Cell and Tissue Research·Hans-Gert BernsteinJohann Steiner

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Amygdala: Sensory Processes

Amygdalae, nuclei clusters located in the temporal lobe of the brain, play a role in memory, emotional responses, and decision-making. Here is the latest research on sensory processes in the amygdala.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric condition characterized by severe weight loss and secondary problems associated with malnutrition. Here is the latest research on AN.

Amygdala and Midbrain Dopamine

The midbrain dopamine system is widely studied for its involvement in emotional and motivational behavior. Some of these neurons receive information from the amygdala and project throughout the cortex. When the circuit and transmission of dopamine is disrupted symptoms may present. Here is the latest research on the amygdala and midbrain dopamine.