TEXTB EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOSOMAT MEDIC:ORIGINS PSYCHOPATHOL 2E PAPER

by Martin Brune

Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine are concerned with medical conditions affecting brain, mind and behaviour in manifold ways. Traditional approaches have focused on a restricted array of potential causes of psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions - including adverse experiences such as trauma, neglect or abuse, genetic vulnerability and epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Whilst essential for the understanding of mental disorders, these approaches have disregarded important questions such as why the human mind is vulnerable to dysfunction at all.

The Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine updates and expands on the original Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry (OUP, 2008) to provide answers to these questions by emphasising an evolutionary perspective on psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions. It explains how the human brain/mind has been shaped by natural and sexual selection; why adaptations to environmental conditions in our evolutionary past may nowadays work in suboptimal ways; and how human cognition, emotions, and behaviour can be scientifically framed to improve our understanding of how people try to attain important biosocial goals pertaining to one's status in society, mating, eliciting and providing care, and maintaining rewarding relationships.

The evolutionary topics relevant to the understanding of psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions include the concepts of genetic plasticity, life history theory, stress regulation and immunological aspects. In addition, it is argued that an evolutionary framework is also necessary to understand how psychotherapy and psychopharmacology work to improve the lives of patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders.

The Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine is a valuable text for all students of Psychology, Medicine, and Psychotherapy who seek an understanding of the evolutionary issues surrounding health and disease.

Genres: Psychiatry, Evolution

486 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2015

Reviews

[Mathias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind blowing just by reading the introduction. 20th century psychiatry, just like 20th century religion, is founded on the platonic mythology of autonomy. I will be reading this in the coming three months of psychiatry residency

Prestige is at the very CORE of psychiatry - how you ask? Well, serotonin levels are DEMONSTRABLY and by BRUTE FACT regulated by percieved social status. This has to be HAMMERED in at every level. More than 1 million swedes are prescribed anti-depressant medication which functions by artificially INCREASING serotonin. This means that prestige is the cause of mental well being, with SSRI being a kind of artificial prestige, cheap grace, that is, as is 20th century religion, SSRI for the masses.

Mind blowing to say the least. This is the fundamental link between religion and psychiatry. To be continued

Human psychopathology is damage dealt to the soul by circumstances surrounding in part attachment between the Mother and the Child, and in part between the competitor and his hierarchical surrounding. Depression is caused by failure to compete, and addiction is caused by failure to create authentic social attachment (the quality of which is mediated by neuropeptides oxytocin and endorphin, which heroine and fentanyl mimics molecularly). Love can mend the damage caused by unfortunate circumstances, but love is extremely rare, especially in religious groups, who worship pride and shy away from authentic connenction

[David Noga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting evidence informed viewpoint of viewing psychopathology in terms of evolution and reproductive fitness. Some background in psychology/psychiatry needed to process, not an intro textbook.