ArticleComputational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.)2021
Why Depressed Mood is Adaptive: A Numerical Proof of Principle for an Evolutionary Systems Theory of Depression.
Article in Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bad Feelings, Best Explanations: In Defence of the Propitiousness Theory of the Low Mood System.Erkenntnis · 2025Article
- N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptors and Depression: Linking Psychopharmacology, Pathology and Physiology in a Unifying Hypothesis for the Epigenetic Code of Neural Plasticity.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Active Inference in Psychology and Psychiatry: Progress to Date?Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Lifeworlds in pain: a principled method for investigation and intervention.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2023Review
- A Computational Model of Hopelessness and Active-Escape Bias in Suicidality.Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2022Article
- Beauty and Uncertainty as Transformative Factors: A Free Energy Principle Account of Aesthetic Diagnosis and Intervention in Gestalt Psychotherapy.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
- Unraveling the central and bridge psychological symptoms of people living with HIV: A network analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Integrating Evolutionary, Cultural, and Computational Psychiatry: A Multilevel Systemic Approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
We provide a proof of principle for an evolutionary systems theory (EST) of depression. This theory suggests that normative depressive symptoms counter socioenvironmental volatility by increasing interpersonal support via social signalling and that this response depends upon the encoding of uncertainty about social contingencies, which can be targeted by neuromodulatory antidepressants. We simulated agents that committed to a series of decisions in a social two-arm bandit task before and after social adversity, which precipitated depressive symptoms. Responses to social adversity were modelled under various combinations of social support and pharmacotherapy. The normative depressive phenotype responded positively to social support and simulated treatments with antidepressants. Attracting social support and administering antidepressants also alleviated anhedonia and social withdrawal, speaking to improvements in interpersonal relationships. These results support the EST of depression by demonstrating that following adversity, normative depressed mood preserved social inclusion with appropriate interpersonal support or pharmacotherapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.