Horacio Fabrega Jr., M.D.
Rutgers University Press, 2002
FROM THE BACK COVER
What are the origins of human psychopathology? Is mental illness a
relatively recent phenomenon, or has it been with us throughout evolution?
Can something so seemingly cultural and contemporary have a phylogenetic
history?
In Origins of Psychopathology, Horacio Fabrega Jr. employs principles of
evolutionary biology to better understand the significance of mental
illness. He explores whether what psychiatry has categorized as mental
disorders could have existed during earlier phases of human evolution.
Fabrega approaches the prominent features of mental disorders as adaptive
responses to the environment and life's circumstances, which in turn can
only be understood in the context of our evolutionary past. Taking his cue
from theoretical issues raised by research into primate behavior and early
hominid evolution, he poses the questions: What was involved in the shift
from animal to human varieties of psychopathology? Does mental illness
occur in primates and other animals, and if so, what does this tell us
about mental illness in human evolution? How has mental illness played an
adaptive role? How has the development of language and higher cognitive
functions affected characteristics of psychopathology? Fabrega
synthesizes insights from both the clinical and the evolutionary points of
view. This facet of psychopathology, which involves its origins and
manifestations viewed across the expanse of human evolution, has, until
now, been largely neglected in psychiatric education, theory, and practice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Part I. Psychiatry and Evolutionary Biology
Chapter 1. Evolution and the Study of Psychopathology 3
Chapter 2. Evolutionary Theory Applied to Psychopathology
and Psychiatry 26
Chapter 3. Clinical and Evolutionary Images of Psychopathology 40
Chapter 4. Accounting for the Universality of Psychopathology 76
Chapter 5. An Active Role for Psychopathology in Evolution 96
Chapter 6. On the Limits of an Evolutionary Conception
of Psychopathology 112
Part II. Psychopathology during Human Biological Evolution
Chapter 7. Searching for Psychopathology in Nonhuman Primates 143
Chapter 8. Responses to Psychopathology in Nonhuman Primates 189
Chapter 9. The Setting of Psychopathology during Evolution 213
Chapter 10. The Content of Psychopathology during Evolution 244
Chapter 11. The Impact of Meaning Systems on Psychopathology 273
Chapter 12. Dissociation, Psychopathology, and Evolution 294
Chapter 13. Psychopathology in Archaic Human Societies 313
Part III. Recapitulation and Synthesis
Chapter 14. Phases of the Biological Evolution of Psychopathology 345
Afterword: Visualizing the Cultural Evolution of Psychopathology 368
References 375
Index 401
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ISBN: 0521820049 (cloth) $60.00 USD
WHERE TO ORDER:
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Direct link to catalog entry:
http://165.230.98.36/acatalog/__Origins_of_Psychopathology_880.html#1220
Posted Date: 12/10/03
URL: http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/review/originofpsy.html
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December 10, 2003
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