Citation

Hubbeling D. Evol. Psychol. 2008; 6(3): 409-412.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, The Author(s), Publisher Ian Pitchford and Robert M. Young)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Reviews the book, "How sadness survived: The evolutionary basis of depression" by Paul Keedwell (2008). The author of this book has a track record in depression research. According to the author, depression is caused by frustration of "archetypal needs", such as the need for a loving relationship and for shelter and security. It ostensibly has a reassessment function and encourages people to make changes in their life. This is an interesting hypothesis, which, if correct, would explain how the ability to become depressed could be adaptive. Though there are a few inaccuracies in this book. In the first part, the author explains his key arguments for an evolutionary basis of depression, providing some references to the current empirical literature and giving the impression that his hypothesis is well supported by empirical evidence. However, in my view he ignored several important points. In this second part the author refers only sparingly to empirical studies, making use of literature and films instead. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)