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The chemical imbalance theory of depression has no solid evidence behind it.

An evolutionary view sees depression as a signal that something in life isn't working.

Depression may push us to change by first making us withdraw from a life that no longer fits.

Some of the common characteristics of depression are:

Anhedonia (the loss of pleasure)

Pessimism about the future

Rumination about what might have gone wrong

These features of depression are exactly what make it so paralyzing: they make it difficult to continue with life as usual.

For decades, the standard explanation has been that something has gone wrong in the brain—that depression stems from a chemical imbalance that can be corrected with drugs.

But the chemical imbalance theory has little to support it. Despite decades of research, nobody has found solid evidence that depressed people have lower serotonin than anyone else—or any other known brain dysfunction.

There is a powerful alternative, one that dispenses entirely with the broken-brain metaphor. And it offers a surprising answer to why depression is so paralyzing.

Depression as Adaptation

In 2000, the psychiatrist and evolutionary biologist Randolph Nesse published a paper titled "Is Depression an Adaptation?" Since then, it's been the subject of numerous scholarly papers (see here for a recent review).

Just as there are physical adaptations, like hands for grasping, there are psychological ones. The purpose of rage is to enforce boundaries. The purpose of sexual........

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