The Evolutionary Basis for Creative Depression
Filed Under: creativity
Last week, The Economist ran a really fascinating article on recent research into the evolutionary benefits of depression. Why do we get depressed? Why did such a trait come to be, and if it’s so detrimental to our health, why hasn’t it been selected against in the population?
Unobtainable or unrealistic goals? Like, say, beating the odds and selling a story to the New Yorker? Or selling a screenplay to Hollywood for 6 figures? Or how about winning a Hugo award before you turn 30? Could this explain why an unusually high number of artists and creative types suffer from depression?
Creativity is often all about unrealistic goals. The problem is, without them, we would not strive to achieve the things we do finally achieve. Aim for the stars, shoot for the moon, as they say. So, depression is tied directly to our ambition and stick-to-it-iveness? From the article:
Dr Nesse believes that persistence is a reason for the exceptional level of clinical depression in America—the country that has the highest depression rate in the world. “Persistence is part of the American way of life,” he says. “People here are often driven to pursue overly ambitious goals, which then can lead to depression.” He admits that this is still an unproven hypothesis, but it is one worth considering. Depression may turn out to be an inevitable price of living in a dynamic society.
Depression, an inevitability of a dynamic society and a creative lifestyle? What do you think? Is it possible that those of us who suffer so much “creative” anguish would be much happier with our lives if we aimed lower? But would that just be giving up, and just as bad as being depressed? Which is worse, a lack of ambition or being depressed?
