Evolutionary Perspectives in Psychopathology

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Evolutionary Perspectives in Psychopathology

• Test 8
• Evo models

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Evolutionary Perspective

• Psychopathology results when environment fails to
  meet certain evolved needs or tendencies in the
  developing individual.
• Humans are adapted to group living and social
  environments
• E.g. Non-Nurturing Environment (Bowlby)
• Genetic X Environment interaction
• Proximate and Ultimate Causes
• Adaptive functions and spandrels

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Attachment Rank Spacing Disorders
Borderline
Dominance
Fight
Social Isolation
Social Integration
Competition
Withdraw
Cooperation
Yielding
Submission
Stevens Price (2000)
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Dimensions of Psychopathology

• Successful Affiliation normal adjustment and
  mental health
• Failure to Affiliate schizoid personality,
  schizotypal, introversion, inner directed
  personality
• Submission Low self-esteem, dependent
  personality, anxiety, depression
• Dominance high self-esteem, Type A personality,
  mania, hypomania

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Mood Disorders

• Depression low self-esteem, loss of appetite,
  psychomotor retardation
• Endogenous vs. reactive depression
• Mania heightened self-worth, elation, heightened
  activity
• Adaptations of social adjustment
• Attachment and rank

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Attachment and Rank Theory

• Evolution need 1) Affection 2) social
  status/rank
• Rank Theory
• Mechanisms of depression on based on yielding
  routines to defer competition, maintain group
  solidarity. Limits damage. Avoids ostracism.
• Mania involved from mechanisms to signify winning
  ritualized competition.
• Social change accomplished quickly, relatively
  permanent
• Depression is adaptive

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Self-systems

• Ritualized agonistic behavior in animals
• Lower brain systems (monitors win-loss)
• Assessor strategy (monitoring) involve internal
  working models of self
• People prone to depression, hypomania,
  self-appraisal system biased toward inflation or
  deflation
• Bipolar, cyclothmic unstable self-appraisal
  system, hypersensitive toward other people or
  internal thoughts

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Anxiety

• Vigilance in response to real or perceived threat
• Survival Calculation better to respond to a
  thousand false alarms than to risk single failure
  with life consequences
• Stranger phobia in children, bugs, heights, etc.
• Social phobia loss of rank or status
• Physiology of embarrassment (signal of non-verbal
  apology, appeasement)

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Schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia more likely in winter births
• Only in cities
• Schizophrenia 3 times more likely in those who
  live in large cities
• Pregnancy during Influenza epidemic increased
  rate of schizophrenia
• Pregnancy during food shortage (thiamine
  deficiency (Davis, 1996)
• Latitude effect northern climate, higher risk
  (sunlight?)
• Carlson supports viral hypothesis
• Other
• Symptoms occur during age 20-24 (virus lies
  dormant)

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Evolution

• Group-splitting hypothesis evolutionary problem
  of when group size became to large to be
  supported by resources
• Hunter-gather band too large, no rationale
  political structure for decision
• Mood disordersintra-group competition, Schizoid
  disorders adaptive in splitting group or group to
  group competition
• Schizoid personality type, charisma, paranoid,
  delusions of grandeur,
• Anthropology-charismatic leader essential for
  group splitting. Leader fails to adjust to
  consensual reality of group
• Promoting splitting withdrawal, fear of being
  seen as odd, odd beliefs, difficulty inhibiting
  responses that may bee seen as odd, language
  differences

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THE END