quantumaniac:

More people die from suicide than from murder and war combined, throughout the world, every year. Research in the US and other countries estimates that between 30 to 50 percent of people have met current psychiatric diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder sometime in their lives. But the brain plays crucial roles in promoting survival and reproduction, so the pressures of evolution should have left our brains resistant to such high rates of malfunction. Mental disorders should generally be rare — why isn’t depression?

In an article recently published in Psychological Review argues that depression is in fact an adaptation, a state of mind which brings real costs, but also brings real benefits. One reason to suspect that depression is an adaptation comes from research into a molecule in the brain known as the 5HT1A receptor. The 5HT1A receptor binds to serotonin, another brain molecule that is highly implicated in depression and is the target of most current antidepressant medications. Rodents lacking this receptor show fewer depressive symptoms in response to stress, which suggests that it is somehow involved in promoting depression. (Pharmaceutical companies, in fact, are designing the next generation of antidepressant medications to target this receptor.) When scientists have compared the composition of the functional part rat 5HT1A receptor to that of humans, it is 99 percent similar, which suggests that it is so important that natural selection has preserved it. The ability to “turn on” depression would seem to be important, then, not an accident.

Obviously, this is not to say that depression is not a problem. 

So what could be so useful about depression? Depressed people often think intensely about their problems. These thoughts are called ruminations; they are persistent and depressed people have difficulty thinking about anything else. Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical. They dwell on a complex problem, breaking it down into smaller components, which are considered one at a time.

This analytical style of thought, of course, can be very productive. Each component is not as difficult, so the problem becomes more tractable. For instance, in some of our research, we have found evidence that people who get more depressed while they are working on complex problems in an intelligence test tend to score higher on the test.

Analysis requires a lot of uninterrupted thought, and depression coordinates many changes in the body to help people analyze their problems without getting distracted. In a region of the brain known as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), neurons must fire continuously for people to avoid being distracted. But this is very energetically demanding for VLPFC neurons, just as a car’s engine eats up fuel when going up a mountain road. Moreover, continuous firing can cause neurons to break down, just as the car’s engine is more likely to break down when stressed. Studies of depression in rats show that the 5HT1A receptor is involved in supplying neurons with the fuel they need to fire, as well as preventing them from breaking down. These important processes allow depressive rumination to continue uninterrupted with minimal neuronal damage, which may explain why the 5HT1A receptor is so evolutionarily important.

Many other symptoms of depression make sense in light of the idea that analysis must be uninterrupted. The desire for social isolation, for instance, helps the depressed person avoid situations that would require thinking about other things. Similarly, the inability to derive pleasure from sex or other activities prevents the depressed person from engaging in activities that could distract him or her from the problem. Even the loss of appetite often seen in depression could be viewed as promoting analysis because chewing and other oral activity interferes with the brain’s ability to process information.

But is there any evidence that depression is useful in analyzing complex problems? For one thing, if depressive rumination were harmful, as most clinicians and researchers assume, then bouts of depression should be slower to resolve when people are given interventions that encourage rumination, such as having them write about their strongest thoughts and feelings. However, the opposite appears to be true. Several studies have found that expressive writing promotes quicker resolution of depression, and they suggest that this is because depressed people gain insight into their problems.

But depression is nature’s way of telling you that you’ve got complex social problems that the mind is intent on solving. Therapies should try to encourage depressive rumination rather than try to stop it, and they should focus on trying to help people solve the problems that trigger their bouts of depression. (There are several effective therapies that focus on just this.) It is also essential, in instances where there is resistance to discussing ruminations, that the therapist try to identify and dismantle those barriers.

When one considers all the evidence, depression seems less like a disorder where the brain is operating in a haphazard way, or malfunctioning. Instead, depression seems more like the vertebrate eye—an intricate, highly organized piece of machinery that performs a specific function.

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chelseacheshirecat:

dirkstriderschoiceass:

maid-of-fanservice:

meulindleijon:

henohenoblogs:

salarymanman:

spookykittybitch:

themerrymage:

8ad-jokes:

Who wants to take part in a little experiment for me?

I want to see how people measure up to the Kinsey scale, it’s a rating for sexuality.

http://vistriai.com/kinseyscaletest/

Fill in these (okay maybe somewhat weird) questions and add your result?
 

4Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual.

…accurate

5Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual.

3 Equally heterosexual and homosexual.

pretty much exactly as expected

3 Equally heterosexual and homosexual.

no surprise here

4 Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual.

I wasn’t expecting that

Equally heterosexual and homosexual.

Considering I’m bisexual, I’d say this is accurate.

Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.

2. Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.

Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.

iampitchforkmedia:

Not a single one of your ancestors has ever failed in getting laid (Most people on tumblr will probably break the chain)

If you are 80 years old, you have lived through over 1/3 of America’s history

At one point, you were the youngest person in the world.

If a woman who is an only child has all boys (or no children at all), they are ending a chain of women that has been going since we were single-celled organisms.

The average human is a 28 year old Chinese man.

Dinosaurs were alive for longer than they have been extinct.

You breathe using just one nostril, then switch to the other 30 minutes later. Repeats for life. (After reading this pay attention)

In 30 or 40 years, people will be having 2000s parties. Just like now people throw “dress like the 70s” parties.

John Lennon is part of a group that has sold more CD’s than anyone else in the history of human life, and he never knew what a CD even was.

Grossness and morals define each other. For example, you won’t spit in the mouth of your girlfriend, yet you will kiss her.

You spend years seeing the same people often and you’ll never exchange words with them.

People hundreds of years from now will stumble upon your image without thought or emotion.

Everyone dies within six months of their birthday.

50% of all doctors graduated in the lower half of their class.

Mammals are just containers water uses to move itself from one place to another.

Many peoples most cherished beliefs come from 1st century writers and religious fanatics whose understanding of the natural world was below the level of a modern 5 year old.

The “food pyramid” that most of us grew up with was published by the US dept of agriculture. Their job is to promote agriculture, not to promote healthy eating.

80% of the images on the internet are of naked women.

If we ever meet superior aliens they will simply classify us under “violent, irrational apes” and will not be amazed by our art or philosophies, the same way we boringly classify newly discovered animals every year.

When the sun goes out, our descendants that watch it go out won’t be human.

When you’re about to die, you’ll regret all the days you took for granted.

The youngest mother in medical history was 5 years old. It makes you wonder about the generation gap for the people around you. Your best friend could be a thousand generations ahead of you. Your boss could be a hundred generations behind you. Makes sense considering he’s an asshole.

We magnify the differences between us, instead of the things that make us similar. You are not really any different than anyone else on earth that is your age, yet you feel like you are just because they speak a different language, eat different food, worship a different imaginary creature, or live somewhere else. In reality, we are all the same species living on the same planet. To bears, we probably look exactly the same.

sexreeducated:

• The term “blow job” comes from the Victorian times

In Victorian times, a slang term for a prostitute was “blowsy”. At the same time, “blow” was slang for ejaculation. Consequently, by the 1930s, the act of fellatio came to be known as a blow job. It was also used to describe jet planes in World War Two. In Ancient Greece, the common slang for a blow job was “playing the flute”.

• Men looking at male porn produce more sperm

Studies have shown that men who looked at porn of two men and one woman produced more sperm than those who looked at just women. Scientists speculate that seeing competition makes men step up their baby-making capacities.

• The earliest known illustration of a man using a condom during sexual intercourse is painted on the wall of a cave in France. It is dated between 12,000 and 15,000 years old.

• Some female penguins engage in prostitution

Believe it or not, in the wild, certain female penguins (even when in a committed relationship) will exchange sexual favors with strange males for the pebbles they need to build their nests.

Related fact: When taught to use money, monkeys will use it to pay for sex

• Studies have proven that 85 per cent of men who die of heart attacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives

• Sex is a beauty treatment. Scientific tests find that when women make love they produce amounts of the hormone estrogen, which makes hair shine and skin smooth.
• A man’s beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.
• Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium
• During the 1920s, it was believed that jazz music caused one to permanately lose his sexual inhibitions. It was often banned in many cities.
• Sex is a natural antihistamine. It can help combat asthma and hay fever.
• Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow.

(source)(source)

(Source: holisticsexualhealth)