Price J, Sloman L, Gardner R, Gilbert P, Rohde P
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, Canada.
Br J Psychiatry. 1994 Mar;164(3):309-15. doi: 10.1192/bjp.164.3.309.
Depressive personality and depressive illness are examined from an evolutionary adaptationist standpoint. It is postulated that the depressive state evolved in relation to social competition, as an unconscious, involuntary losing strategy, enabling the individual to accept defeat in ritual agonistic encounters and to accommodate to what would otherwise be unacceptably low social rank.
