The Depths by Rottenberg Jonathan

Author:Rottenberg, Jonathan [Rottenberg, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780465069736
Publisher: Basic Books

Hunch 1: Early Improvers Face Fewer Complex Life Problems

Recall the predicament of the mood system. Its task is to sum up what the environment holds, its available threats, and opportunities for action, and to direct behavior forward or allow us to stay in place. Consider Jane, a young woman who is depressed in the wake of the acrimonious breakup of an intense romantic relationship. This kind of discrete problem might benefit from a cocoon of low mood—a protected pause to analyze the past and develop solutions. Her low mood is likely to pass as she makes decisions about the future, whether that means searching for a man with different qualities than her ex or taking a break from dating entirely. Jane’s story typifies one sort of early improver, someone whose depression enabled her to arrive at a reasonable solution to a vexing, but manageable, problem.

What about when multiple problems arrive simultaneously? Imagine if on top of the breakup, Jane’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Increasingly frail, her mother can no longer live independently. Jane’s younger brother has decided he can’t cope with the situation, leaving it to Jane to arrange all the medical care and housing. In this scenario, with multiple open problems simultaneously, Jane is less likely to be an early improver.

Depressions, of course, aren’t always tied to a specific life event; they often come attached to a variety of slow-moving difficulties, whether psychiatric, medical, or psychosocial. Notably, these are problems like severe symptoms of anxiety, substance abuse, chronic pain, and the burden of serious ongoing health issues.17 And new stressors can result from the depression itself. If a depressed man can’t concentrate, his job performance suffers as a result, which leads to his losing his job when his company downsizes, meaning additional financial difficulties.18 Consistent with the idea that combinations of problems may be less manageable than individual problems, one study found that having three stressful life events was actually four times as bad for future depression as having two stressful life events.19 With each new problem, the mood system must face a longer and more complex equation with more unknown terms. When there are no solutions at hand, we should expect sluggish mood improvement at best.

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