Evolving Psychiatry

Alfonso Troisi discusses how an evolutionary perspective should inform our measurement of clinical outcomes, the potential of evolutionary thinking to advance care, and his experience treating patients as an evolutionary psychiatrist. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Thinking and Clinical Care of Psychiatric Patients', authored by Alfonso Troisi. It is chapter 20 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health', published by Cambridge University Press.

Adam Hunt considers how evolutionary thinking helps us understand criminal behaviour, circumstances leading to crime, blameworthiness and the chance to improve social outcomes. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'What the Evolutionary and Cognitive Sciences Offer the Sciences of Crime and Justice' authored by Brian B. Boutwell, Megan Suprenant and Todd K. Shackelford. It is chapter 19 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Martin Brüne talks through the paradox of why schizophrenia persists, how his view on its persistence has changed over the decades, and how an evolutionary approach informs us regarding treatment and prevention.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Perspectives on Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders' authored by Martin Brüne. It is chapter 10 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health', published by Cambridge University Press.

Paul St-John Smith gives an evolutionary psychiatrist's perspective on using pharmaceuticals in treatment, thinks about the limits of rating scales and the usefulness of animal models, and how evolution adds necessary depth to the task of healing in psychiatry. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Psychopharmacology and Evolution', authored by Paul St John-Smith, Riadh Abed and Martin Brüne. It is chapter 18 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Molly Fox gives an insight into why evolution has left us vulnerable to Alzheimer's, what odd aspects of modern life may lead to increased rates of Alzheimer's, and how female reproductive health are a particularly important consideration. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Alzheimer’s Disease as a Disease of Evolutionary Mismatch, with a Focus on Reproductive Life History' authored by Molly Fox. It is chapter 17 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health', published by Cambridge University Press.

Daniela Sieff talks about the difficulties and differences of rearing children in hunter gatherer societies and how child maltreatment can follow. She considers what this means for understanding, prevention and social intervention in the modern world. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Maternal Negativity and Child Maltreatment: How Evolutionary Perspectives Contribute to a Layered and Compassionate Understanding' by Daniela Sieff. It is chapter 16 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Annie Swanepoel discusses why ADHD and autism may be unusually problematic in the modern world, the evolutionary reasons for them, and how an evolutionary perspective has affected her treatment of children and families with these conditions. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Perspectives on Neurodevelopmental Disorders', authored by Annie Swanepoel, Michael J. Reiss, John Launer, Graham Music and Bernadette Wren. It is chapter 15 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Annie Swanepoel discusses trauma and its effects through an evolutionary lens: when trauma is a useful signal, why it is exasperated in certain modern situations and what this means for understanding, treating and preventing trauma.  

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Perspectives on Childhood Trauma', authored by Annie Swanepoel, Michael J. Reiss, John Launer, Graham Music and Bernadette Wren. It is chapter 14 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Robin Dunbar discusses alcohol, its history with humans and primates, why it's so useful for bonding, and how novel circumstances have pushed it into being a drug of abuse. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'The Social Function of Alcohol from an Evolutionary Perspective', authored by Robin Dunbar. It is chapter 13 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Paul St-John Smith talks about substance abuse, the propensity for humans to seek out substances, and how an evolutionary perspective can help us understand substance use and abuse.  

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Substance Abuse and Evolution' by Paul St John-Smith and Riadh Abed. It is chapter 11 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Riadh Abed discusses eating disorders, the various evolutionary pressures which may lie behind tendencies towards them, and mismatches in modern environments which encourage them.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Perspectives on Eating Disorders', authored by Riadh Abed and Agnes Ayton. It is chapter 11 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Matthew Large tackles the difficulty of predicting suicide, the reasons evolution couldn't solve the problem of suicide, and what this means in psychiatric practice.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'On the Randomness of Suicide: An Evolutionary, Clinical Call to Transcend Suicide Risk Assessment', authored by Cas Soper, Pablo Ocejo and Matthew Large. It is chapter 9 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Severi Luoto considers depression, its various forms and causes, and how we can subtype and understand them from an evolutionary perspective. He finishes on future connotations for prevention and treatment.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Evolutionary Perspectives on Depression' authored by Markus J. Rantala and Severi Luoto. It is chapter 8 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Randolph Nesse considers why humans are so vulnerable to mental disorders of all kinds. Evolution hasn't shaped us to be happy, or healthy, and there are all sorts of reasons why our minds veer into the states we call disorder. He also notes the usefulness of this perspective for clinicians and patients.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Why Do Mental Disorders Persist? Evolutionary Foundations for Psychiatry', authored by Randolph Nesse. It is chapter 6 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Nikhil Chaudhary talks about hunter-gatherer life and aspects of ancestral and modern human societies which may differ and lead to mental disorder; and what lessons we may take away for prevention and intervention.

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Hunter Gatherers, Mismatch and Mental Disorder', authored by Nikhil Chaudhary and Deniz Gul Salali. It is chapter 5 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press.

Derek Tracy gives his second interview on hominin evolution, covering the aspects of homo sapiens which may have made us special in comparison to other human lineages, the evolutionary pressures which were most important, and how thinking about our evolutionary history helps him as a clinician. 

This episode is based on a chapter titled 'Hominin evolution II: Sapiens, Masters of the Known Universe', authored by Derek Tracy. It is chapter 3 in the book 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health", published by Cambridge University Press. 

Derek Tracy gives his first interview on hominin evolution, covering the variety of human species which cohabited Earth over the past few hundred thousand years, why homo and homo sapiens may be special, and the complexity of human evolution we are just uncovering.

Adam talks about the biopsychosocial model of medicine and how evolutionary psychiatry offers to improve upon it. Evolutionary approaches can inform the biological, psychological and social approaches to mental health, and bring together disparate areas of research under an overarching theory.

Riadh Abed introduces the field of evolutionary psychiatry. He makes the case for evolution being the basic science which should guide mental health research and talks about a couple of key concepts which evolutionary psychiatrists think about which are missing from current mainstream psychiatry.

Adam begins the Evolving Psychiatry podcast by introducing some key concepts from evolutionary psychiatry, talking a bit about the sorts of disorders which evolutionary psychiatry concerns itself with, and generally making the case for evolutionary psychiatry as a suitable new paradigm for psychiatry.

Following this episode, there will be a series of twenty episodes on various topics in evolutionary psychiatry, interviewing experts about a corresponding chapter they authored in the new volume 'Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health' published by Cambridge University Press.