Evolutionary Psychiatry

Evolutionary biology is now the foundation for scientific studies of behavior and emotion, but it is only starting to be applied in psychiatry. It asks new questions that provide a framework for integrating otherwise separate perspectives. The first two questions are about the evolutionary history of a trait and how it gives selective advantages. Answers provide evolutionary explanations of behavior and emotions that synergize with explanations that describe mechanisms and ontogeny. A third question asks why natural selection left us with traits that make us vulnerable to disease. In addition to mutations and environmental exposures, evolutionary psychiatry considers mismatch with modern environments, tradeoffs, and traits that increase gene transmission at the cost of host health. Answers to this question encourage a medical approach to aversive emotions as useful responses. Evolutionary psychiatry is not a method of treatment, but the basic science it brings to psychiatry has practical applications for clinical care, research, and public health that can increase psychiatry’s effectiveness and its recognition as a medical specialty.