XPost: soc.support.depression.misc, sci.med.psychobiology   
   From: voiceofreason@sanity.net   
      
   The following came from vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com:   
      
   >  I was  thinking about how depression  might be a  vestigial urge to   
   > hibernate.   Think of this:  you face  a number  of events  leading to   
   > fight/flight urges which were impossible to execute. Hence you load up   
   > your serotonergic springs  but never fire them. Eventually  it is such   
   > an overload,  you just sleep it  off for the  winter.  Esp interesting   
   > that  hibernation  isn't  localised  on  the  evolutionary  tree,  but   
   > splattered throughout.   
   >   
      
   More likely it is just the normal response of non-hibernating species (such   
   as humans) to the partial confinement, limitiation of activity and   
   decreased natural light associated with winter in the temperate zones.   
      
   If they could communicate with us I don't doubt many other animal species   
   that stay abroad in the winter would have similar feelings to share.   
   Limited mobility, harder to stay warm, fewer choices in food (if food is   
   even available)... I'm sure you get the picture.   
      
   Come about February many people are feeling restless and disillusioned.   
   This tends to go away as the days get longer and the weather warms up. The   
   oldsters called this phenomena 'cabin fever', which is a much more apt   
   description than the cumbersome, windy labels the shrinks cook up.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)