This book is unique in taking an evolutionary perspective to understanding psychiatric and psychosomatic conditions. It explores how the human brain/mind has been shaped by natural and sexual selection and why adaptations to environmental conditions in our evolutionary past may not always work in our best interests.

Evolutionary psychiatry attempts to explain and examine the development and prevalence of psychiatric disorders through the lens of evolutionary and adaptationist theories. In this edited volume, leading international evolutionary scholars present a variety of Darwinian perspectives that will encourage readers to consider 'why' as well as 'how' mental disorders arise. Using insights from comparative animal evolution, ethology, anthropology, culture, philosophy and other humanities, evolutionary thinking helps us to re-evaluate psychiatric epidemiology, genetics, biochemistry and psychology. It seeks explanations for persistent heritable traits shaped by selection and other evolutionary processes, and reviews traits and disorders using phylogenetic history and insights from the neurosciences as well as the effects of the modern environment. By bridging the gap between social and biological approaches to psychiatry, and encouraging bringing the evolutionary perspective into mainstream psychiatry, this book will help to inspire new avenues of research into the causation and treatment of mental disorders.

This book examines human psychology and behavior through the lens of modern evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary Psychology: The Ne w Science of the Mind, 5/e provides students with the conceptual tools of evolutionary psychology, and applies them to empirical research on the human mind. Content topics are logically arrayed, starting with challenges of survival, mating, parenting, and kinship; and then progressing to challenges of group living, including cooperation, aggression, sexual conflict, and status, prestige, and social hierarchies. Students gain a deep understanding of applying evolutionary psychology to their own lives and all the people they interact with.

Mental disorders arise from neural and psychological mechanisms that have been built and shaped by natural selection across our evolutionary history. Looking at psychopathology through the lens of evolution is the only way to understand the deeper nature of mental disorders and turn a mass of behavioral, genetic, and neurobiological findings into a coherent, theoretically grounded discipline. The rise of evolutionary psychopathology is part of an exciting scientific movement in psychology and medicine -- a movement that is fundamentally transforming the way we think about health and disease. Evolutionary Psychopathology takes steps toward a unified approach to psychopathology, using the concepts of life history theory -- a biological account of how individual differences in development, physiology and behavior arise from tradeoffs in survival and reproduction -- to build an integrative framework for mental disorders. This book reviews existing evolutionary models of specific conditions and connects them in a broader perspective, with the goal of explaining the large-scale patterns of risk and comorbidity that characterize psychopathology. Using the life history framework allows for a seamless integration of mental disorders with normative individual differences in personality and cognition, and offers new conceptual tools for the analysis of developmental, genetic, and neurobiological data. The concepts presented in Evolutionary Psychopathology are used to derive a new taxonomy of mental disorders, the Fast-Slow-Defense (FSD) model. The FSD model is the first classification system explicitly based on evolutionary concepts, a biologically grounded alternative to transdiagnostic models. The book reviews a wide range of common mental disorders, discusses their classification in the FSD model, and identifies functional subtypes within existing diagnostic categories.

A Textbook of Biological Psychiatry integrates the basic science concerning brain mechanisms of psychiatric disorders alongside surveys of present standard clinical treatment. Organized in a coherent and easy to follow structure, chapters expand across different levels of analysis, from basic mechanisms to clinical practice. This comprehensive reference provides an integrative treatment of the biochemistry of neurotransmission, behavioral pharmacology, and clinical aspects of psychiatric problems including depression, manic-depression, and mood disorders. Other chapters address the biological mechanisms and treatment of depression, anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addictions. The editor concludes with a perspective on the future of the field and prospects for understanding and effectively treating mood and anxiety disorders.

The foundations of practice and the most recent discoveries intheintriguing newfield of evolutionary psychology Why is the mind designed the way it is? How does input from theenvironment interact with the mind to produce behavior? By takingaim at such questions, the science of evolutionary psychology hasemerged as a vibrant new discipline producing groundbreakinginsights. In The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology,leading contributors discuss the foundations of the field as wellas recent discoveries currently shaping this burgeoning area ofpsychology. Guided by an editorial board made up of such luminaries as LedaCosmides, John Tooby, Don Symons, Steve Pinker, Martin Daly, MargoWilson, and Helena Cronin, the text's chapters delve into acomprehensive range of topics, covering the full range of thediscipline: Foundations of evolutionary psychology Survival Mating Parenting and kinship Group living Interfaces with traditional disciplines of evolutionarypsychology And interfaces across disciplines. In addition to an in-depth survey of the theory and practice ofevolutionary psychology, the text also features an enlighteningdiscussion of this discipline in the context of the law, medicine,and culture. An Afterword by Richard Dawkins provides some finalthoughts from the renowned writer and exponent of evolutionarytheory. Designed to set the standard for handbooks in the field,The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology is an indispensablereference tool for every evolutionary psychologist and student.

Part of the authoritative Oxford Textbooks in Psychiatry series, Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry, Third Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the developments in old age psychiatry since publication of the Second Edition in 2013, and remains an essential reference for anyone interested in the mental health care of older people.

The next time you get sick, consider this before picking up the aspirin: your body may be doing exactly what it's supposed to. In this ground-breaking book, two pioneers of the science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness as well as the factors that predispose us toward it are subject to the same laws of natural selection that otherwise make our bodies such miracles of design. Among the concerns they raise: When may a fever be beneficial? Why do pregnant women get morning sickness? How do certain viruses "manipulate" their hosts into infecting others? What evolutionary factors may be responsible for depression and panic disorder? Deftly summarizing research on disorders ranging from allergies to Alzheimer's, and form cancer to Huntington's chorea, Why We Get Sick, answers these questions and more. The result is a book that will revolutionize our attitudes toward illness and will intrigue and instruct lay person and medical practitioners alike.

Third edition of the classic undergraduate psychology textbook, entirely updated to combine traditional and cutting-edge research and additional pedagogical features.

Widely recognised as the standard text for trainee psychiatrists, the Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry stands head and shoulders above the competition. The text has been honed over five editions and displays a fluency, authority and insight which is not only rarely found but makes the process of assimilating information as smooth and enjoyable as possible. The book provides an introduction to all the clinical topics required by the trainee psychiatrist, including all the sub-specialties and major psychiatric conditions. Throughout, the authors emphasize the basic clinical skills required for the full assessment and understanding of the patient. Discussion of treatment includes not only scientific evidence, but also practical problems in the management of patients their family and social context. The text emphasizes an evidence-based approach to practice and gives full attention to ethical and legal issues. Introductory chapters focus on recognition of signs and symptoms, classification and diagnosis, psychiatric assessment, and aetiology. Further chapters deal with all the the major psychiatric syndromes as well as providing detailed coverage of pharmacological and psychological treatments. The book gives equal prominence to ICD and DSM classification - often with direct comparisons - giving the book a universal appeal. The Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry remains the most up-to-date secondary level textbook of psychiatry available, with the new edition boasting a new modern design and greater use of summary boxes, tables, and lists than ever before. The extensive bibliography has been brought up-to-date and there are targeted reading lists for each chapter. The Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry fulfils all the study and revision needs of psychiatric trainees, but will also prove useful to medical students, GPs, qualified psychiatrists, and those in related fields who need to be kept informed with current psychiatric practice.