Depression May Help Extend Life

If you want to live a long, happy life, think again.

Researchers at Duke University followed more than 4,000 older people for a decade and found that women who lived longest were mildly depressed. The finding was published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

“We don’t quite understand the finding,” said Dr. Dan Blazer, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Duke and co-author of the study in the May-June issue. This jump in longevity was seen only in women. Women with mild depression, determined by a diagnostic questionnaire, were 40% less likely to die during the study period compared with women with no depression or those with more serious forms.

Blazer suspects mild forms of depression could protect against death by slowing people down, giving them more time to pay attention to their minds and bodies.

He and his colleagues separated the group into those without depression, those with mild depression and those with severe depression. Those with six to eight symptoms--feelings of hopelessness, sadness, problems concentrating or sleeping, for instance--would be considered mildly depressed.

What might be the benefit of mild depression? Blazer said there could be an evolutionary explanation, one put forth in the work of Dr. Randolph M. Nesse of the University of Michigan. “It’s like fever symptoms,” Blazer said. “Mild fever is actually good. It attacks the organism and puts the body in a mode of rest.”