Some of my favorite conversations are the ones in which we explore mental “illness” as having adaptive benefits. The idea that we might gain something from the same experience that's causing us distress is often met with skepticism at first. But when we keep the curiosity in play, we start to discover hidden benefits to what our brain and body are doing seemingly without our permission. Is our exhaustion helping us to "shut down" and conserve energy in a chronically overwhelming workplace? Is our anger helping us to be heard in a relationship in which we feel ignored? Does our paralyzing anxiety protect us from experiencing failure and shame? These conversations are helpful for many reasons, the least of which is that it shifts us away from pathologizing ourselves and moves us to consider our tendencies as responses to environmental circumstances. It's not “just us,” but rather our impairments and distresses have origin stories, purpose and context.
The scientific field of evolutionary theory takes this conversation to a new level. It considers that mental health disorders may be caused by functional adaptations in proto-humans that have not had sufficient time to be removed through natural selection. As a society, we tend to recognize that physical discomfort can be a sign of normal functioning. Diarrhea after food poisoning, for example. A fever to fight off a virus. The pain of childbirth. We accept this kind of physical suffering is necessary to return us to baseline. But we struggle to accept that mental discomfort might also be purposeful. Take Seasonable Affective Disorder (SAD). In therapy offices across the county this time of year, SAD is framed as a medical nuisance that needs a cope ahead plan. But evolutionary theory has helped to highlight the ways in which ancient humans were able to conserve energy when daylight was reduced in winter. This, in turn, seasonally modify human sleep patterns, hormones, dietary choices, and a variety of biological functions. In reality, many aspects of our brains and bodies still function as if we were living 20,0000 years ago. But craving low quality food stuffs to survive a barren winter today conflicts with cultural expectations to stay productive and maintain particular diets in the colder months. Our disconnection from this origin story causes us to blame the holidays for our cookie cravings. Rather than judging our choices and behaviors this time of year, consider that humans are still connected to nature and its seasonal cycles in important ways. Continue to stay curious about the expectations you let inform your choices and give yourself some evolutionary grace.
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