Accentuate the Positive

An eminent consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry in London has published a book called How Sadness Survived which, if the Observer's Whitehall editor has understood it correctly, argues that depression is a Good Thing because "it can give people an increased resilience to cope with life's challenges". Depression is also "far from being a modern malaise", since "Aristotle saw it as a state of immense moral and spiritual value because of the insights it could bring". Of course, there is no doubt that Aristotle was talking about exactly the same state of mind to which we now refer as "depression"; not least because, like tragedy, democracy and quack medicine, it "has been with us for thousands of years".

Depression causes pain and disability in the United Kingdom to the tune of around seventeen thousand million pounds a year, and Dr Paul Keedwell has written his book in order to understand how such a thing has withstood the "evolutionary changes" which have taken place over the past few millennia. After all, if the human species has evolved to the extent that it can produce Dr Paul Keedwell, sadness would appear self-evidently to be a mere atavistic relic, on a par with flared jeans or the vermiform appendix. "Doctors are divided over why it is so common", but Dr Paul Keedwell believes that it "has simply adapted in the human species to actually give us some long-term benefits" - just as one would expect from a painful and crippling condition. "In its severe form it is terrible and life-threatening", despite which patients tend to "see themselves as broken in some way"; but Dr Paul Keedwell believes that "for many it is a short-term painful episode that can take you out of a stressful situation for a while". Pain being self-evidently more beneficial than stress, this is obviously a wonderful thing. Depression can also "give us new and quite radical insights" and "it can give us a way of responding effectively to challenges we have in life" and "it can help people to find a new way of coping with events or your situation - and give you a new perspective, as well as making you more realistic about your aims". It appears that depression has all the practical benefits of a weekend at a self-help course, besides being nearly as much fun to get through.

Dr Paul Keedwell has apparently based his conclusions on a recent survey of Dutch adults which showed that "their vitality, their social interaction and their general health actually improved on recovery" from their depression. That is, they were better when their depression had lifted, and when the circumstances which led to their depression were in the past. This is certainly revolutionary. Those who were socially isolated, or who had drink or drug problems, did not do so well; perhaps because they were unable to benefit from the full force of the depression which results from the proximity of one's neighbours and a clear head.

Update: Dr Paul Keedwell has courteously directed my attention to this piece, which he wrote himself and which offers a more nuanced précis of his arguments than the Whitehall editor at the Observer.