TY - JOUR
T1 - An evolutionary perspective on psychiatry
AU - Nesse, Randolph M.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1984
Y1 - 1984
N2 - Recent progress in the evolutionary understanding of behavior may greatly assist psychiatry. Although explanations of psychopathology have traditionally emphasized proximate causes of individual differences, consideration of the evolutionary functions of human behavior is essential for psychiatry, just as biology, ethology, and medicine routinely consider both proximate and evolutionary explanations for a variety of phenomena. The methods and data for testing evolutionary hypotheses are reviewed, and the ways in which evolutionary principles can help to explain maladaptive behaviors are considered. Some psychiatric symptoms that seem maladaptive may, in fact, serve specific survival functions. Hypotheses are proposed about the possible evolutionary significance of overeating, anorexia nervosa, panic attacks, and sexual disorders, and tests of these hypotheses are considered. By incorporating an evolutionary perspective on psychopathology, psychiatry may share the foundation that evolution provides for the rest of natural science.
AB - Recent progress in the evolutionary understanding of behavior may greatly assist psychiatry. Although explanations of psychopathology have traditionally emphasized proximate causes of individual differences, consideration of the evolutionary functions of human behavior is essential for psychiatry, just as biology, ethology, and medicine routinely consider both proximate and evolutionary explanations for a variety of phenomena. The methods and data for testing evolutionary hypotheses are reviewed, and the ways in which evolutionary principles can help to explain maladaptive behaviors are considered. Some psychiatric symptoms that seem maladaptive may, in fact, serve specific survival functions. Hypotheses are proposed about the possible evolutionary significance of overeating, anorexia nervosa, panic attacks, and sexual disorders, and tests of these hypotheses are considered. By incorporating an evolutionary perspective on psychopathology, psychiatry may share the foundation that evolution provides for the rest of natural science.
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U2 - 10.1016/0010-440X(84)90038-5
DO - 10.1016/0010-440X(84)90038-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 6509961
AN - SCOPUS:0021676139
VL - 25
SP - 575
EP - 580
JO - Comprehensive Psychiatry
JF - Comprehensive Psychiatry
SN - 0010-440X
IS - 6
ER -