#179 – Randy Nesse on why evolution left us so vulnerable to depression and anxiety

<p>Mental health problems like depression and anxiety affect enormous numbers of people and severely interfere with their lives. By contrast, we don’t see similar levels of physical ill health in young people. At any point in time, something like 20% of young people are working through anxiety or depression that’s seriously interfering with their lives — but nowhere near 20% of people in their 20s have severe heart disease or cancer or a similar failure in a key organ of the body other than the brain.</p><p>From an evolutionary perspective, that’s to be expected, right? If your heart or...