PSYCH 055: Evolutionary Foundations of Psychiatry

Clinical Deep Dives · Jul 9, 2026 · 1h 9m

This chapter explores psychiatric phenomena through an evolutionary lens - asking not only how mental disorders occur, but why the human mind is vulnerable to them in the first place.

Evolutionary psychiatry proposes that many features of the mind are shaped by natural selection to solve problems of survival and reproduction. Emotions such as fear, anxiety, attachment, and even low mood may have evolved as adaptive responses to specific environmental challenges.

A central concept is mismatch. The modern environment differs profoundly from the one in which the human brain evolved. Systems…