What Melbourne Winter and Depression Have in Common

As a traditional Melbourne winter begins, I find myself with a little less energy, combined with a desire to ‘stay in’; indeed, to want to stay under the covers and keep warm! For those who have experienced depression or depressive symptoms, the need to want to stay home, stay in bed and keep to oneself can be a prominent and sometimes distressing part of the experience. 

I find it interesting however, that in evolutionary psychology, consideration is given to how depressive like behaviours may have evolved to confer some kind of survival advantage. 

For example, one such theory suggests that when one is feeling depressed, there is an urge to withdraw from our usual social environments and to spend time ruminating on complex problems, conflicts, failures and threats of some kind. Taking the time to do this, might be evolutionary advantageous because in theory it may assist in facilitating a deeper understanding of things, resolving important issues, and avoid repeating mistakes.

Of course, not all depressive experiences is functional and severe or chronic depression can be very debilitating. 

However, if you feel like you’ve withdrawn somewhat from your life and feeling stuck ruminating on problems you can’t seem to work out, give some thought to therapy and having another person think together with you about what’s going on.