Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:24:36.901Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Getting to the bottom of things: The value of evolutionary approaches in discerning the origin of psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Jiaqing O
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3UX, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.aber.ac.uk/en/psychology/staff-profiles/listing/profile/jio2
Martin Brüne
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital Bochum, Division of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatric Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44791 Bochum, Germany. [email protected]://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/mibra/bruene.html

Abstract

The network approach as a novel way of understanding psychopathology has helped address some of the existing issues associated with traditional biological interpretations. Nonetheless, it has similarly failed in explaining the fundamental etiology of mental conditions – a persistent conundrum that arguably could be adequately addressed only by evolutionary formulations, specifically evolutionary mismatch and life history theories.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abed, R. T. & Abbas, M. J. (2011) A reformulation of the social brain theory for schizophrenia: The case for out-group intolerance. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 54:132–51.Google Scholar
Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2006) Gene-environment interaction of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) and observed maternal insensitivity predicting externalizing behavior in preschoolers. Developmental Psychobiology 48:406409.Google Scholar
Brüne, M. (2014) On aims and methods of psychiatry: A reminiscence of 50 years of Tinbergen's famous questions about the biology of behavior. BMC Psychiatry 14: article 1695. (Online article). doi: 10.1186/s12888-014-0364-y. Available at: https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-014-0364-y.Google Scholar
Brüne, M. (2016) Textbook of evolutionary psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine: The origins of psychopathology, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Del Giudice, M. (2014) An evolutionary life history framework for psychopathology. Psychological Inquiry 25:261300.Google Scholar
Durisko, Z., Mulsant, B. H., McKenzie, K. & Andrews, P. W. (2016) Using evolutionary theory to guide mental health research. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 61:159–65.Google Scholar
Grunspan, D. Z., Nesse, R. M., Barnes, M. E. & Brownell, S. E. (2018) Core principles of evolutionary medicine. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2018:1323.Google Scholar
Hidaka, B. H. (2012) Depression as a disease of modernity: Explanations for increasing prevalence. Journal of Affective Disorders 140:205–14.Google Scholar
Nesse, R. M. (2013) Tinbergen's four questions, organized: A response to Bateson and Laland. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 28:681–82.Google Scholar
O, J. (2018a) Learned helplessness from an evolutionary mismatch perspective. In: Encyclopedia of evolutionary psychological science, ed. Shackelford, T. K. & Weekes-Shackelford, V. A., p. 36 ff.. Springer Nature. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1056-1.Google Scholar
O, J. (2018b) Self-efficacy, animal phobias and evolutionary mismatch. In: Encyclopedia of evolutionary psychological science, ed. Shackelford, T. K. & Weekes-Shackelford, V. A., p. 58 ff. Springer Nature. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1057-1.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. C. (2000) Life history evolution: Successes, limitations, and prospects. Naturwissenschaften 87:476–86.Google Scholar