The separation distress hypothesis: The ultimate theory of depression?

ABSTRACT

In his latest treatise on the separation distress hypothesis, Watt makes a compelling case that depression ultimately stems from an adaptive response to problems in the social world. Despite our agreement with many of Watt's claims, we argue here that the separation distress hypothesis only tells us part of the story. Finding little reason to favour his model over other socially-oriented theories of depression, we advocate instead for an integrative approach in theoretical psychiatry that can fruitfully incorporate insights arising from each of these evolutionary views, including Watt's own.

KEYWORDS:

• Separation distress hypothesis
• evolution
• depression
• active inference

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging: [Grant Number 205103/Z/16/Z]; and a Canada-UK Artificial Intelligence Initiative [Grant Number ES/T01279X/1].