This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The article by Dr Nesse is a fine recap of issues as to possible adaptive aspects of depression.¹ It heralds to a large audience that there is more to come as evolutionary science continues to reform and integrate studies in psychopathology. Nesse, who has already done so much to foster the fruition of darwinian psychology and medicine, has done us another good turn.^{2, 3} Yet, for all the growth of "evolutionary psychology" thus far, it has yet to come to grips with genetic science.⁴ In this context, the lack of reference to evolutionary epidemiology as an operationalized mode for precise assessments is a regrettable omission.⁴

As presently conceived, the indistinct nosological meaning of "depression" cannot constitute a proper unit of analysis since depression is likely a syndromic composite of homologous genetic traits, phenocopies, and proximal mechanisms.⁴ However, family risk, twin and adoptee data, and DSM-IV definitions of major depression approaches a . . . [Full Text of this Article]