Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry (생물정신의학)

The Korean Society of Biological Psychiatry (대한생물정신의학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Evolutionary Model of Depression as an Adaptation for Blocked Social Mobility

  • Park, Hanson (Department of Anthropology, College of Social Science, Seoul National University) ;
  • Pak, Sunyoung (Department of Anthropology, College of Social Science, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2022.01.26
  • Accepted : 2022.02.16
  • Published : 2022.04.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Objectives In regard to the social competition hypothesis, depression is viewed as an involuntary defeat strategy. A previous study has demonstrated that adaptation in microenvironments can result in a wide range of behavioural patterns including defense activation disorders. Using a simulation model with evolutionary ecological agents, we explore how the fitness of various defence activation traits has changed over time in different environments with high and low social mobility. Methods The Evolutionary Ecological Model of Defence Activation Disorder, which is based on the Marginal Value Theorem, was used to examine changes in relative fitness for individuals with defensive activation disorders after adjusting for social mobility. Results Our study examined the effects of social mobility on fitness by varying the d-values, a measure of depression in the model. With a decline in social mobility, the level of fitness of individuals with high levels of defense activation decreased. We gained insight into the evolutionary influence of varying levels of social mobility on individuals' degrees of depression. In the context of a highly stratified society, the results support a mismatch hypothesis which states that high levels of defence are detrimental. Conclusions Despite the fact that niche specialization in habitats composed of multiple microenvironments can result in diverse levels of defensive activation being evolutionary strategies for stability, decreased social mobility may lead to a decrease in fitness of individuals with highly activated defence modules. There may be a reason behind the epidemic of depression in modern society.

Keywords

References

  1. Park H. Evolutionary ecological model of defence activation disorders via the marginal value theorem. Psychiatry Investig 2020;17:556-578. https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2020.0051
  2. Damasio AR. Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain. Boston: Mariner Books;2003.
  3. Haselton MG, Buss DM. Error management theory: a new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. J Pers Soc Psychol 2000;78:81-91. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.81
  4. Nesse RM. Natural selection and the regulation of defenses: a signal detection analysis of the smoke detector principle. Evol Hum Behav 2005;26:88-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.08.002
  5. Park H. Evolutionary hypotheses of mental disorder and their limitations. J Korean Soc Biol Ther Psychiatry 2019;26:165-182.
  6. Stevens A, Price J. Evolutionary Psychiatry: A New Beginning. London: Routledge;1996.
  7. Price J, Sloman L, Gardner R Jr, Gilbert P, Rohde P. The social competition hypothesis of depression. Br J Psychiatry 1994;164:309-315. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.164.3.309
  8. Sloman L, Gilbert P. Subordination and Defeat: An Evolutionary Approach to Mood Disorders and Their Therapy. London: Routledge;2000.
  9. Gilbert P, Allan S. The role of defeat and entrapment (arrested flight) in depression: an exploration of an evolutionary view. Psychol Med 1998;28:585-598. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291798006710
  10. Watson D. Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: a quantitative hierarchical model for DSM-V. J Abnorm Psychol 2005;114:522-536. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.522
  11. Del Giudice M. Evolutionary Psychopathology: A Unified Approach. New York: Oxford University Press;2018.
  12. Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murray CJ. Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors. Washington DC: World Bank, New York: Oxford University Press;2006.
  13. Uher R. The role of genetic variation in the causation of mental illness: an evolution-informed framework. Mol Psychiatry 2009;14:1072-1082. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2009.85
  14. Lee SH, Ripke S, Neale BM, Faraone SV, Purcell SM, Perlis RH, et al. Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs. Nat Genet 2013;45:984-994. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2711
  15. Cartwright J. Evolution and Human Behaviour: Darwinian Perspectives on the Human Condition. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave;2016.
  16. Keller MC, Miller G. Resolving the paradox of common, harmful, heritable mental disorders: which evolutionary genetic models work best? Behav Brain Sci 2006;29:385-404; discussion 405-452.
  17. Montiglio PO, Ferrari C, Reale D. Social niche specialization under constraints: personality, social interactions and environmental heterogeneity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013;368:20120343.
  18. Bergmuller R, Taborsky M. Adaptive behavioural syndromes due to strategic niche specialization. BMC Ecol 2007;7:12.
  19. Futuyma DJ, Moreno G. The evolution of ecological specialization. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 1988;19:207-233. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.19.110188.001231
  20. Sloman L. A new comprehensive evolutionary model of depression and anxiety. J Affect Disord 2008;106:219-228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2007.07.008
  21. Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GJ, Faravelli C, Greenwald S, Hwu HG, et al. Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder. JAMA 1996;276:293-299. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1996.03540040037030
  22. Mulder RT. An epidemic of depression or the medicalization of distress? Perspect Biol Med 2008;51:238-250. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.0.0009
  23. Summerfield D. Depression: epidemic or pseudo-epidemic? J R Soc Med 2006;99:161-162. https://doi.org/10.1177/014107680609900323
  24. Rottenberg J. The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic. New York: Basic Books (AZ);2014.
  25. Wakefield JC, Demazeux S. Sadness or Depression?: International Perspectives on the Depression Epidemic and Its Meaning. Dordrecht: Springer;2016.
  26. Grimm V, Berger U, DeAngelis DL, Polhill JG, Giske J, Railsback SF. The ODD protocol: a review and first update. Ecol Model 2010;221:2760-2768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.08.019
  27. Wobst HM. Boundary conditions for Paleolithic social systems: a simulation approach. Am Antiq 1974;39(2Part1):147-178. https://doi.org/10.2307/279579
  28. Gurven M, Kaplan H. Longevity among hunter-gatherers: a cross-cultural examination. Popul Dev Rev 2007;33:321-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x
  29. Hewlett BS. Demography and childcare in preindustrial societies. J Anthropol Res 1991;47:1-37. https://doi.org/10.1086/jar.47.1.3630579
  30. Heckman JJ, Mosso S. The economics of human development and social mobility. Annu Rev Econom 2014;6:689-733. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080213-040753
  31. Lee RB, DeVore I. Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine;1968.
  32. Kelly RL. The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers: The Foraging Spectrum. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;2013.
  33. Tiikkaja S, Sandin S, Malki N, Modin B, Sparen P, Hultman CM. Social class, social mobility and risk of psychiatric disorder--a population-based longitudinal study. PLoS One 2013;8:e77975.
  34. Nicklett EJ, Burgard SA. Downward social mobility and major depressive episodes among Latino and Asian-American immigrants to the United States. Am J Epidemiol 2009;170:793-801. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwp192
  35. Chan TW. Social mobility and the well-being of individuals. Br J Sociol 2018;69:183-206. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12285
  36. Hoven H, Siegrist J, Goldberg M, Ribet C, Zins M, Wahrendorf M. Intragenerational social mobility and depressive symptoms. Results from the French CONSTANCES cohort study. SSM Popul Health 2019;7:100351.
  37. Gibson G, Dworkin I. Uncovering cryptic genetic variation. Nat Rev Genet 2004;5:681-690. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1426
  38. De Vogli R, Brunner E, Marmot MG. Unfairness and the social gradient of metabolic syndrome in the Whitehall II Study. J Psychosom Res 2007;63:413-419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.04.006
  39. Wells JCK, Nesse RM, Sear R, Johnstone RA, Stearns SC. Evolutionary public health: introducing the concept. Lancet 2017;390:500-509. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30572-X
  40. Beck AT. Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Seoul: Hakjisa;1997.
  41. Gilbert P. Evolutionary approaches to psychopathology and cognitive therapy. J Cogn Psychother 2002;16:263-294. https://doi.org/10.1891/jcop.16.3.263.52515
  42. Paul Gilbert F. Evolutionary Theory and Cognitive Therapy. New York: Springer Publishing Company;2004.