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Famous Jonathan Rottenberg Quotes

“Depressed people become unable to remember happy times, or times when they even had a normal mood. The very concept of a normal mood itself becomes alien. I’ve had more than one depressed participant offer me a pained smile during an interview when I asked, -When was the last time you felt like your usual self? – These are the disorientations of chronic depression.”

EvolutionDepressionAdaptationEvolutionary PsychologyModern LifeStressorsLow MoodNormal Mood
Book:The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
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“I have discussed how the goal of feeling happy is unusual; its not like other goals such as learning to bake a pizza, for which the desire to achieve is half the battle and steady application is the rest. Pressing harder on unfulfilled and unrealistic goals for happiness can paradoxically deepen depression.”

EvolutionDepressionAdaptationEvolutionary PsychologyModern LifeStressorsLow MoodNormal Mood
Book:The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
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“The tendency for depression to repeat reflects the normal default settings of a plastic mood system that is open to experience. The unfortunate consequence of plasticity is that a long duration of deep depression can reprogram the entire system so that it favors a return to low mood states- the good news is that there is a flip side to plasticity. As wee see with these psychologically based treatments, the mood system can be deprogrammed.”

EvolutionDepressionAdaptationEvolutionary PsychologyModern LifeStressorsLow MoodNormal Mood
Book:The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
Create image

“The tendency for depression to repeat reflects the normal default settings of a plastic mood system that is open to experience. The unfortunate consequence of plasticity is that a long duration of deep depression can reprogram the entire system so that it favors a return to low mood states- the good news is that there is a flip side to plasticity. As we see with these psychologically based treatments, the mood system can be deprogrammed.”

EvolutionDepressionAdaptationEvolutionary PsychologyModern LifeStressorsLow MoodNormal Mood
Book:The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
Create image