The Social Competition Hypothesis of Depression

Price, John; Sloman, Leon; Gardner, Russell; Gilbert, Paul; Rohde, Peter

doi:10.1192/bjp.164.3.309

Cited by 481 publications

(333 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Reduced secretion of serotonin is believed to have allowed the subordinate animal to behave in a hyper vigilant and withdrawn manner so as to increase their chances of survival under hostile conditions. Humans continue to display similar reactions in response to cognitions associated with low social rank (Gilbert, 2006;Price, Sloman, Gardner, Gilbert, & Rohde, 1994). While these hard-wired responses to low rank were adaptive under evolutionary conditions, such reactions may adversely affect health in modern day, particularly if prolonged (Gilbert, 2006;P.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does income relate to health due to psychosocial or material factors? Consistent support for the psychosocial hypothesis requires operationalization with income rank not the Yitzhaki Index

Hounkpatin

Wood

Dunn

2016

Social Science & Medicine

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Research on why income influences health has produced mixed findings. Many, but not all, studies suggest that the relationship between income and health is due to income indicating psychosocial position rather than the associated material benefits. The inconsistent findings may be partly due to the use of the Yitzhaki Index, a function which calculates the accumulated income shortfall for an individual relative to those with higher income, in order to represent the psychosocial position conferred by income. The current study tests whether an alternative specification - income rank - provides more consistent conclusions regarding the psychosocial effect of income on health. We used data from two nationally representative samples: 14,224 observations from 9,404 participants across three waves (2004, 2008, and 2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and 29,237 observations from 8,441 individuals across seven waves (2007-2013) of the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS). Multilevel regression models indicated that income rank was a stronger and more consistent predictor than both the Yitzhaki Index and actual income of self-rated and objective health. The psychosocial hypothesis is more consistently supported when income rank is used to test it

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does income relate to health due to psychosocial or material factors? Consistent support for the psychosocial hypothesis requires operationalization with income rank not the Yitzhaki Index

Hounkpatin

Wood

Dunn

2016

Social Science & Medicine

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“…We have chosen to use another well standardized model, based on social submission in adult male rats [50,69], to identify the genetic consequences of social loss. The chronic stress that occurs in the presence of persistent loss in aggressive social encounters [2,57 especially in the absence of social support [69,18], is a major factor that sets in motion incompletely understood neurobiological events that leads to affective deficits and depressive disorders [49,57,58,66,81].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social defeat, a paradigm of depression in rats that elicits 22-kHz vocalizations, preferentially activates the cholinergic signaling pathway in the periaqueductal gray

Kroes¹,

Burgdorf²,

Otto³

et al. 2007

Behavioural Brain Research

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Gene expression profiles in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) of adult Long-Evans rats as a function of a stressful social defeat in inter-male fighting encounters were examined. This social subordination model mimics prototypical behavioral changes that parallel aspects of clinical depression, has been postulated to simulate early changes in the onset of depression in the losers, and has been successfully utilized for the evaluation of antidepressant activity. 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have been shown to reflect negative emotional states akin to anxiety and depression. Social defeat is the most robust and reliable method of eliciting these calls. The PAG has been shown to be a key brain region for the generation of 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations, and 22-kHz USVs have been shown to be controlled by the mesolimbic cholinergic system. In this present study we examined gene expression changes in the PAG of social subordinate rats compared to dominant rats (that do not exhibit 22-kHz USVs). We found that social defeat significantly altered the genes associated with cholinergic synaptic transmission in the PAG. The most robust of these were the increased expression of the β2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (CHRNB2) and the T-subunit of acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) in the subordinate animals. These changes were corroborated by qRT-PCR and found to be exclusive to the PAG compared to seven other brain regions examined. These data suggest that cholinergic transmission in the PAG is involved in the generation of 22-kHz USVs and provide potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of affective disorders.

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“…tress, neuroses, and depression that would compensate for their obvious costs (Alexander 1986;Birtchnell 1993;Gardner 1982;Gilbert 1989;Henderson 1974Henderson , 1981McGuire and Troisi 1998;Nesse 1991;Nesse and Williams 1995;Price et al 1994;Slavin and Kriegman 1992;Thornhill 1989, 1990;Watson and Andrews, unpublished;Wenegrat 1995). Virtually all propose functions involving an adaptive response to varied interpersonal problems.…”

Section: Costs Of the Puerperiummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several researchers have argued that depression is a social signal (Henderson 1974;Price et al 1994;Watson and Andrews, unpublished). Whereas Price et al view depression as a signal of submission after losing a social competition, Watson and Andrews argue, among other things, that depression is a signal of need, an idea first seriously pursued by Henderson and collaborators (Henderson 1974(Henderson , 1977(Henderson , 1978(Henderson , 1981Henderson et al 1980).…”

Section: Is Ppd a Signal Of Need?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Functions of Postpartum Depression

Hagen

1999

Evolution and Human Behavior

219

137

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Evolutionary approaches to parental care suggest that parents will not automatically invest in all offspring, and they should reduce or eliminate investment in their children if the costs outweigh the benefits. Lack of paternal or social support will increase the costs born by mothers, whereas infant health problems will reduce the evolutionary benefits to be gained. Numerous studies support the correlation between postpartum depression (PPD) and lack of social support or indicators of possible infant health and development problems. PPD may be an adaptation that informs mothers that they are suffering or have suffered a fitness cost, which motivates them to reduce or eliminate investment in offspring under certain circumstances, and that may help them negotiate greater levels of investment from others. PPD also appears to be a good model for depression in general.

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The Social Competition Hypothesis of Depression

Cited by 481 publications

References 33 publications

Does income relate to health due to psychosocial or material factors? Consistent support for the psychosocial hypothesis requires operationalization with income rank not the Yitzhaki Index

Does income relate to health due to psychosocial or material factors? Consistent support for the psychosocial hypothesis requires operationalization with income rank not the Yitzhaki Index

Social defeat, a paradigm of depression in rats that elicits 22-kHz vocalizations, preferentially activates the cholinergic signaling pathway in the periaqueductal gray

The Functions of Postpartum Depression

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