I chose an online article from The Wake. The article talkes about depression through history and how it is a trait that doesn't have anything to offer that might be advantageous to our evolution. I thought it was interesting that it referred to depression both as a disease, disorder, and personality trait. I guess I feel like there is a problem in classifying it as something that might have been culled out through evolution, because it is all in your head: you're not slower, weaker, or less attractive to potential mates because of it. It doesn't have any evolutionary advantage, but neither do ADD or OCD or any other mental disorder that you may be diagnosed with.
Here is my rough rough draft, I would appreciate any constructive criticism you can give! thanks.
This article looks at depression as something that should be helpful to our survival or have been wiped out in the evolutionary process. Depression, as far as we can tell, is not linked to any particular gene, which indicates that it must be free from the physical body and all in the mind. Depression is not a physical abnormality, but rather a mental disorder such as add or ocd. Though it may not have a purpose like jealousy or competitiveness, it doesn’t seem to hinder people from growing and reproducing either. Rather than looking at depression as something advantageous or disadvantageous to our evolution, we could instead ask why certain people are more predisposed to the disorder than others, or what kind of environmental or biological factors contribute to depression.
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I like where you're going here, but I think it needs a little clarification. I think there would be many people who would argue that depression as a mental disorder IS in fact linked to genetics, Pinker being one of them. You suggest biological factors may contribute to depression, but also say that there is nothing physically linked to it. This is unclear to me. While you may be right, I think you should elaborate a little on what exactly you mean. It also seems a bit bold to say that depression doesn't hinder people from growing... I know you mean strictly in a maturing/ physically growing way, but it sounds like you're saying it doesn't effect people(social growth, Mental growth). I think you're on the right path, but need to explain a little more to clarify.
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