Adding a Layer of Playfulness?

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 20 September 2023; Accepted 20 September 2023

As a researcher who focuses on the neurobiology of the PLAY system, I should start by confessing that I am neither well-versed in therapy or psychodynamic approaches. Nor am I well versed in the neurobiology of depression. Nevertheless, many of the themes covered in Doug Watt’s paper (2023) resonated strongly with me. Like the author, I find it a bit distressing when realizing how little progress has been made in the treatment of affective disorders and the extent to which treatment options are limited and all too often not very effective. This should not be too surprising given the likely complexity of the underlying pathology leading to symptoms of depression. Nevertheless, it is a sobering thought that with all of the advances in neuroscience we are still not that far beyond where we were 30 or 50 years ago.

Building on an earlier treatise he co-authored with Jaak Panksepp, Watt provides a compelling case for disturbances in the separation distress emotional system as playing a significant contributory role in the etiology of affective disorders. One can easily see how disturbances such as trauma and adversity in early life, when the separation distress emotional system is most primed for action, can set the stage for how one deals with later stressors and adversity. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that separate affective systems do not operate in a vacuum. While I am reticent to add more complexity to the present framework, I do think it may be advantageous to consider how playfulness during early childhood could fit into this framework and provide a bridge between disrupted attachment processes and later pathology. As the author clearly points out, what is often overlooked when assessing and treating affective disorders is the social framework in which the patient lives. For many mammals, including humans, one of the first non-parent directed social behaviors involves playing