06 - DR CHARLES RAISON - DEPRESSION AS SURVIVAL Great Life Work
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- Personal Journals
DEPRESSION AS EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION
Dr Charles Raison is a professor. psychiatrist, and world-renowned expert in depression. His groundbreaking work explores depression from an evolutionary perspective, and argues that the inflammatory response characteristic of depression may have in fact ensured our survival.
This wide range conversation covers depression, Raison's theory of PATHOS-D, the relationship between autoimmune conditions like allergies and arthritis with depression, and so much more.
Find out more about Charles' work at Emory Spiritual Health
TOPICS INCLUDE:
Why depression is no longer considered a “broken brain” in the scientific community
Why depression is thought of as a syndrome, rather than as a disease—more like a “cloud” or a “cluster” in response to adversity
Why do humans, worldwide and across history, share this constellation of immunological reactions in response to stress and adversity? What function could it serve evolutionarily?
What purpose could depression serve?
How the search for a depression gene has been unproductive: can’t reduce it to a single gene
Depression is part of genetic makeup
Why would depression hide itself from the person experiencing it?
How the “fear of wounding” and infection risk explains the inflammatory response of depression
Stress as a “early warning system for wounding,” which may result in infection
Evolutionary, stress-activated inflammation proved to be advantageous for survival, which explains why depression may have been selected for
Pathos-D helps explain why psychological stress creates a inflammatory response in humans and other animals-
James suggests evolutionary underpinnings to why “chicks dig scars”
Is depression a calling out for help?
Charles’s theory that depression evolved to manage relationships with other humans and the microbial world
Why Charles is surprised people like to visit zoos
depression as a warning sign that you are failing at your chance of reproduction or survival
How unquestionable “must-have” desires are proximally linked to evolutionary survival or reproductive needs
Rather than a disease, depression evolved out of sickness
Increased core temperature and inhibited sweat-response in depression and why that can’t serve as a diagnostic test for depression
Why depression is like an environmental trigger activated by adversity depending on genetic risk factors—kind of like an allergy
Depression as reminiscent of an allergy, albeit operating via different systems
Depression, Allergies, and high-inflammation subtypes
How metaphors are sometimes instantiated in science
Why autoimmune disorders of all kinds are on the rise: an impaired relationship with the microbial world
Graham Rook “The old friends theory” (link)
Why the immune is more like a diplomacy service than an attack squad—it’s about learning what NOT to attack
Anti-inflammatory properties of Microbactorium Baci and cancer treatment, research Chris Lowry and others (link)
Why bugs were our ancient teachers
What if allergies were an evolutionary response as well?
How hyperactive immune responses were helpful in the bubonic plague—why survival is best served by a range of genetic variance in a population
How might something like hay fever serve an evolutionary purpose?
How our response to adversity shapes our perspective and healing.
Why environmental interventions offer the best opportunities for treating “regular ol’ depression”
Use changes in environment to signal wellbeing to the individual
sauna as a treatment for depression
The search for treatment that doesn’t involve the constant external stimulus of medication
Why depression is a catch-22 in modern times—would it be crazy
Psychedelics as a mode of restoring environmental connection
Charles reflects on his English Lit studies and how discovering Freud led him to psychiatry
How Charles read Siddartha at the perfect time in his adolescence
analysis as a double-edge
DEPRESSION AS EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION
Dr Charles Raison is a professor. psychiatrist, and world-renowned expert in depression. His groundbreaking work explores depression from an evolutionary perspective, and argues that the inflammatory response characteristic of depression may have in fact ensured our survival.
This wide range conversation covers depression, Raison's theory of PATHOS-D, the relationship between autoimmune conditions like allergies and arthritis with depression, and so much more.
Find out more about Charles' work at Emory Spiritual Health
TOPICS INCLUDE:
Why depression is no longer considered a “broken brain” in the scientific community
Why depression is thought of as a syndrome, rather than as a disease—more like a “cloud” or a “cluster” in response to adversity
Why do humans, worldwide and across history, share this constellation of immunological reactions in response to stress and adversity? What function could it serve evolutionarily?
What purpose could depression serve?
How the search for a depression gene has been unproductive: can’t reduce it to a single gene
Depression is part of genetic makeup
Why would depression hide itself from the person experiencing it?
How the “fear of wounding” and infection risk explains the inflammatory response of depression
Stress as a “early warning system for wounding,” which may result in infection
Evolutionary, stress-activated inflammation proved to be advantageous for survival, which explains why depression may have been selected for
Pathos-D helps explain why psychological stress creates a inflammatory response in humans and other animals-
James suggests evolutionary underpinnings to why “chicks dig scars”
Is depression a calling out for help?
Charles’s theory that depression evolved to manage relationships with other humans and the microbial world
Why Charles is surprised people like to visit zoos
depression as a warning sign that you are failing at your chance of reproduction or survival
How unquestionable “must-have” desires are proximally linked to evolutionary survival or reproductive needs
Rather than a disease, depression evolved out of sickness
Increased core temperature and inhibited sweat-response in depression and why that can’t serve as a diagnostic test for depression
Why depression is like an environmental trigger activated by adversity depending on genetic risk factors—kind of like an allergy
Depression as reminiscent of an allergy, albeit operating via different systems
Depression, Allergies, and high-inflammation subtypes
How metaphors are sometimes instantiated in science
Why autoimmune disorders of all kinds are on the rise: an impaired relationship with the microbial world
Graham Rook “The old friends theory” (link)
Why the immune is more like a diplomacy service than an attack squad—it’s about learning what NOT to attack
Anti-inflammatory properties of Microbactorium Baci and cancer treatment, research Chris Lowry and others (link)
Why bugs were our ancient teachers
What if allergies were an evolutionary response as well?
How hyperactive immune responses were helpful in the bubonic plague—why survival is best served by a range of genetic variance in a population
How might something like hay fever serve an evolutionary purpose?
How our response to adversity shapes our perspective and healing.
Why environmental interventions offer the best opportunities for treating “regular ol’ depression”
Use changes in environment to signal wellbeing to the individual
sauna as a treatment for depression
The search for treatment that doesn’t involve the constant external stimulus of medication
Why depression is a catch-22 in modern times—would it be crazy
Psychedelics as a mode of restoring environmental connection
Charles reflects on his English Lit studies and how discovering Freud led him to psychiatry
How Charles read Siddartha at the perfect time in his adolescence
analysis as a double-edge