Depression affects huge numbers of people. One in four of us suffer from it at some point in our lives; one in ten will in the next year, and about one in twenty of us is living with the condition right now. Dr Paul Keedwell argues that, although depression is unpleasant and sometimes unbearable, it can have some long term benefits both for individuals and possibly for us as a species.
In his new book “How Sadness Survived” Dr Keedwell, a specialist in depression at the section of Neuroscience and Emotion, Institute of Psychiatry, London, proposes that depression can lead to increased resilience, empathy and creativity of thought. Examples of brilliant and successful people who have suffered from the condition – from Michelangelo to Winston Churchill – are highlighted.
Case examples support Dr Keedwell’s suggestion that depression is a defence rather than a defect. The condition may have persisted and evolved as an effective response to life challenges and could still represent a potentially successful strategy in today’s modern world.
Paul Keedwell offers a new approach to the benefits of negative emotions, and how we might view depression in a more constructive way.
“An important and novel analysis of the possible advantages of having a depression.”
Lewis Wolpert, Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine
How Sadness Survived is now available from Radcliffe Publishing: click here.
Source:Medical News Today
