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Manzotti A, Panisi C, Pivotto M, Vinciguerra F, Benedet M, Brazzoli F, Zanni S, Comassi A, Caputo S, Cerritelli F, Chiera M. An in-depth analysis of the polyvagal theory in light of current findings in neuroscience and clinical research. Dev Psychobiol 2024; 66:e22450. [PMID: 38388187 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
The polyvagal theory has led to the understanding of the functions of the autonomic nervous system in biological development in humans, since the vagal system, a key structure within the polyvagal theory, plays a significant role in addressing challenges of the mother-child dyad. This article aims to summarize the neurobiological aspects of the polyvagal theory, highlighting some of its strengths and limitations through the lens of new evidence emerging in several research fields-including comparative anatomy, embryology, epigenetics, psychology, and neuroscience-in the 25 years since the theory's inception. Rereading and incorporating the polyvagal idea in light of modern scientific findings helps to interpret the role of the vagus nerve through the temporal dimension (beginning with intrauterine life) and spatial dimension (due to the numerous connections of the vagus with various structures and systems) in the achievement and maintenance of biopsychosocial well-being, from the uterus to adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Manzotti
- Division of Neonatology, "V. Buzzi" Children's Hospital, ASST-FBF-Sacco, Milan, Italy
- RAISE Lab, Clinical-Based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Cristina Panisi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Micol Pivotto
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Matteo Benedet
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Silvia Zanni
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Alberto Comassi
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Sara Caputo
- Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesco Cerritelli
- RAISE Lab, Clinical-Based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
| | - Marco Chiera
- RAISE Lab, Clinical-Based Human Research Department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy
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2
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Abstract
Evolutionary biology provides a crucial foundation for medicine and behavioral science that has been missing from psychiatry. Its absence helps to explain slow progress; its advent promises major advances. Instead of offering a new kind of treatment, evolutionary psychiatry provides a scientific foundation useful for all kinds of treatment. It expands the search for causes from mechanistic explanations for disease in some individuals to evolutionary explanations for traits that make all members of a species vulnerable to disease. For instance, capacities for symptoms such as pain, cough, anxiety and low mood are universal because they are useful in certain situations. Failing to recognize the utility of anxiety and low mood is at the root of many problems in psychiatry. Determining if an emotion is normal and if it is useful requires understanding an individual's life situation. Conducting a review of social systems, parallel to the review of systems in the rest of medicine, can help achieve that understanding. Coping with substance abuse is advanced by acknowledging how substances available in modern environments hijack chemically mediated learning mechanisms. Understanding why eating spirals out of control in modern environments is aided by recognizing the motivations for caloric restriction and how it arouses famine protection mechanisms that induce binge eating. Finally, explaining the persistence of alleles that cause serious mental disorders requires evolutionary explanations of why some systems are intrinsically vulnerable to failure. The thrill of finding functions for apparent diseases is evolutionary psychiatry's greatest strength and weakness. Recognizing bad feelings as evolved adaptations corrects psychiatry's pervasive mistake of viewing all symptoms as if they were disease manifestations. However, viewing diseases such as panic disorder, melancholia and schizophrenia as if they are adaptations is an equally serious mistake in evolutionary psychiatry. Progress will come from framing and testing specific hypotheses about why natural selection left us vulnerable to mental disorders. The efforts of many people over many years will be needed before we will know if evolutionary biology can provide a new paradigm for understanding and treating mental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Randolph M Nesse
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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3
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Kearney BE, Lanius RA. The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1015749. [PMID: 36478879 PMCID: PMC9720153 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1015749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 08/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the manifestation of trauma in the body is a phenomenon well-endorsed by clinicians and traumatized individuals, the neurobiological underpinnings of this manifestation remain unclear. The notion of somatic sensory processing, which encompasses vestibular and somatosensory processing and relates to the sensory systems concerned with how the physical body exists in and relates to physical space, is introduced as a major contributor to overall regulatory, social-emotional, and self-referential functioning. From a phylogenetically and ontogenetically informed perspective, trauma-related symptomology is conceptualized to be grounded in brainstem-level somatic sensory processing dysfunction and its cascading influences on physiological arousal modulation, affect regulation, and higher-order capacities. Lastly, we introduce a novel hierarchical model bridging somatic sensory processes with limbic and neocortical mechanisms regulating an individual's emotional experience and sense of a relational, agentive self. This model provides a working framework for the neurobiologically informed assessment and treatment of trauma-related conditions from a somatic sensory processing perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Breanne E. Kearney
- Department of Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Ruth A. Lanius
- Department of Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
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4
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Kholghi G, Eskandari M, Shokouhi Qare Saadlou MS, Zarrindast MR, Vaseghi S. Night shift hormone: How does melatonin affect depression? Physiol Behav 2022; 252:113835. [PMID: 35504318 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Melatonin is the main hormone secreted by the pineal gland that modulates the circadian rhythm and mood. Previous studies have shown the therapeutic effects of melatonin, or its important analogue, agomelatine, on depression. In this review study, we aimed to discuss the potential mechanisms of melatonin involved in the treatment of depression. It was noted that disrupted circadian rhythm can lead to depressive state, and melatonin via regulating circadian rhythm shows a therapeutic effect. It was also noted that melatonin induces antidepressant effects via promoting antioxidant system and neurogenesis, and suppressing oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and apoptosis. The interaction effect between melatonin or agomelatine and serotonergic signaling has a significant effect on depression. It was noted that the psychotropic effects of agomelatine are induced by the synergistic interaction between melatonin and 5-HT2C receptors. Agomelatine also interacts with glutamatergic signaling in brain regions involved in regulating mood and circadian rhythm. Interestingly, it was concluded that melatonin exerts both pro- and anti-inflammatory effects, depending on the grade of inflammation. It was suggested that synergistic interaction between melatonin and 5-HT2C receptors may be able to induce therapeutic effects on other psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, dualistic role of melatonin in regulating inflammation is an important point that can be examined at different levels of inflammation in animal models of depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gita Kholghi
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
| | - Maliheh Eskandari
- Faculty of Basic Sciences, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | | | - Mohammad-Reza Zarrindast
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Salar Vaseghi
- Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, Karaj, Iran.
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5
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Sindermann C, Sariyska R, Elhai JD, Montag C. Molecular genetics of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in Internet use disorders including first insights on a potential role of hypothalamus' oxytocin hormone. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2021; 182:389-400. [PMID: 34266607 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-819973-2.00026-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
This chapter covers the phenomenon of Internet use disorders (IUDs) and putative associations with different neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems. Genes coding for such messengers can be seen as an important starting point in the complicated quest to understand human behavior including new phenomena such as IUDs. Therefore, a special focus of this chapter will lie on individual differences in molecular genetic underpinnings of neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems and their associations with individual differences in tendencies towards IUDs. By shedding light on these associations, putative predisposing molecular genetic factors for the emergence and maintenance of IUDs can be carved out. Therefore, first an introduction to IUDs and a model that can guide research on putative associations of IUDs with different specific neurotransmitters and neuropeptides will be presented. Subsequently, twin studies on the heritability of IUDs are reviewed. Finally, studies on differences in molecular genetic predispositions and their associations with differences in IUDs will be presented and discussed, including targets related to the dopaminergic and serotonergic system as well as the hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin. The chapter closes with a conclusion about what is already known and what needs to be investigated in future studies to gain further insights into putative associations between molecular genetic markers and IUDs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rayna Sariyska
- Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | - Jon D Elhai
- Departments of Psychology and of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, United States
| | - Christian Montag
- Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
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6
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Esterle L, Brown JNA. I Think Therefore You Are. ACM TRANSACTIONS ON CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS 2020. [DOI: 10.1145/3375403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Cyber-physical systems operate in our real world, constantly interacting with the environment and collaborating with other systems. The increasing number of devices will make it infeasible to control each one individually. It will also be infeasible to prepare each of them for every imaginable rapidly unfolding situation. Therefore, we must increase the autonomy of future Cyber-physical Systems. Making these systems self-aware allows them to reason about their own capabilities and their immediate environment. In this article, we extend the idea of the self-awareness of individual systems toward
networked self-awareness
. This gives systems the ability to reason about how they are being affected by the actions and interactions of others within their perceived environment, as well as in the extended environment that is beyond their direct perception. We propose that different levels of networked self-awareness can develop over time in systems as they do in humans. Furthermore, we propose that this could have the same benefits for networks of systems that it has had for communities of humans, increasing performance and adaptability.
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Zwir I, Arnedo J, Del-Val C, Pulkki-Råback L, Konte B, Yang SS, Romero-Zaliz R, Hintsanen M, Cloninger KM, Garcia D, Svrakic DM, Rozsa S, Martinez M, Lyytikäinen LP, Giegling I, Kähönen M, Hernandez-Cuervo H, Seppälä I, Raitoharju E, de Erausquin GA, Raitakari O, Rujescu D, Postolache TT, Sung J, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Lehtimäki T, Cloninger CR. Uncovering the complex genetics of human temperament. Mol Psychiatry 2020; 25:2275-2294. [PMID: 30279457 PMCID: PMC7515831 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-018-0264-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2018] [Revised: 07/21/2018] [Accepted: 08/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Experimental studies of learning suggest that human temperament may depend on the molecular mechanisms for associative conditioning, which are highly conserved in animals. The main genetic pathways for associative conditioning are known in experimental animals, but have not been identified in prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of human temperament. We used a data-driven machine learning method for GWAS to uncover the complex genotypic-phenotypic networks and environmental interactions related to human temperament. In a discovery sample of 2149 healthy Finns, we identified sets of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that cluster within particular individuals (i.e., SNP sets) regardless of phenotype. Second, we identified 3 clusters of people with distinct temperament profiles measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory regardless of genotype. Third, we found 51 SNP sets that identified 736 gene loci and were significantly associated with temperament. The identified genes were enriched in pathways activated by associative conditioning in animals, including the ERK, PI3K, and PKC pathways. 74% of the identified genes were unique to a specific temperament profile. Environmental influences measured in childhood and adulthood had small but significant effects. We confirmed the replicability of the 51 Finnish SNP sets in healthy Korean (90%) and German samples (89%), as well as their associations with temperament. The identified SNPs explained nearly all the heritability expected in each sample (37-53%) despite variable cultures and environments. We conclude that human temperament is strongly influenced by more than 700 genes that modulate associative conditioning by molecular processes for synaptic plasticity and long-term memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Zwir
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA ,grid.4489.10000000121678994Department of Computer Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Javier Arnedo
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA ,grid.4489.10000000121678994Department of Computer Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Coral Del-Val
- grid.4489.10000000121678994Department of Computer Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Laura Pulkki-Råback
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Bettina Konte
- grid.9018.00000 0001 0679 2801Department of Psychiatry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Sarah S. Yang
- grid.31501.360000 0004 0470 5905Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Rocio Romero-Zaliz
- grid.4489.10000000121678994Department of Computer Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Mirka Hintsanen
- grid.10858.340000 0001 0941 4873Unit of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | | | - Danilo Garcia
- grid.8761.80000 0000 9919 9582Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden ,grid.435885.70000 0001 0597 1381Blekinge Centre of Competence, Blekinge County Council, Karlskrona, Sweden
| | - Dragan M. Svrakic
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA
| | - Sandor Rozsa
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA
| | - Maribel Martinez
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA
| | - Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen
- grid.502801.e0000 0001 2314 6254Fimlab Laboratories, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - Ina Giegling
- grid.9018.00000 0001 0679 2801Department of Psychiatry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany ,grid.5252.00000 0004 1936 973XUniversity Clinic, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Mika Kähönen
- grid.502801.e0000 0001 2314 6254Department of Clinical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Tampere University Hospital, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - Helena Hernandez-Cuervo
- grid.170693.a0000 0001 2353 285XDepartment of Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL USA
| | - Ilkka Seppälä
- grid.502801.e0000 0001 2314 6254Fimlab Laboratories, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - Emma Raitoharju
- grid.502801.e0000 0001 2314 6254Fimlab Laboratories, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - Gabriel A. de Erausquin
- grid.449717.80000 0004 5374 269XDepartment of Psychiatry and Neurology, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Texas Rio-Grande Valley School of Medicine, Harlingen, TX USA
| | - Olli Raitakari
- grid.410552.70000 0004 0628 215XDepartment of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Dan Rujescu
- grid.9018.00000 0001 0679 2801Department of Psychiatry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Teodor T. Postolache
- grid.411024.20000 0001 2175 4264Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA ,Rocky Mountain Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center for Veteran Suicide Prevention, Denver, CO USA
| | - Joohon Sung
- grid.31501.360000 0004 0470 5905Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Terho Lehtimäki
- grid.502801.e0000 0001 2314 6254Fimlab Laboratories, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - C. Robert Cloninger
- grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA ,grid.4367.60000 0001 2355 7002Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, and Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA
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8
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Corrigan FM, Christie-Sands J. An innate brainstem self-other system involving orienting, affective responding, and polyvalent relational seeking: Some clinical implications for a "Deep Brain Reorienting" trauma psychotherapy approach. Med Hypotheses 2019; 136:109502. [PMID: 31794877 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2019] [Revised: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Underlying any complex relational intersubjectivity there is an inherent urge to connect, to have proximity, to engage in an experience of interpersonal contact. The hypothesis set out here is that this most basic urge to connect is dependent on circuits based in three main components: the midbrain superior colliculi (SC), the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), and the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine systems originating in the midbrain ventral tegmental area. Firstly, there is orienting towards or away from interpersonal contact, dependent on approach and/or defensive/withdrawal areas of the SC. Secondly, there is an affective response to the contact, mediated by the PAG. Thirdly, there is an associated, affectively-loaded, seeking drive based in the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine systems. The neurochemical milieu of these dopaminergic systems is responsive to environmental factors, creating the possibility of multiple states of functioning with different affective valences, a polyvalent range of subjectively positive and negative experiences. The recognition of subtle tension changes in skeletal muscles when orienting to an affectively significant experience or event has clinical implications for processing of traumatic memories, including those of a relational/interpersonal nature. Sequences established at the brainstem level can underlie patterns of attachment responding that repeat over many years in different contexts. The interaction of the innate system for connection with that for alarm, through circuits based in the locus coeruleus, and that for defence, based in circuits through the PAG, can lay down deep patterns of emotional and energetic responses to relational stimuli. There may be simultaneous sequences for attachment approach and defensive aggression underlying relational styles that are so deep as to be seen as personality characteristics, for example, of borderline type. A clinical approach derived from these hypotheses, Deep Brain Reorienting, is briefly outlined as it provides a way to address the somatic residues of adverse interpersonal interactions underlying relational patterns and also the residual shock and horror of traumatic experiences. We suggest that the innate alarm system involving the SC and the locus coeruleus can generate a pre-affective shock while an affective shock can arise from excessive stimulation of the PAG. Clinically significant residues can be accessed through careful, mindful, attention to orienting-tension-affect-seeking sequences when the therapist and the client collaborate on eliciting and describing them.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Corrigan
- Trauma Psychotherapy Scotland, 15 Newton Terrace, Glasgow G3 7PJ, United Kingdom.
| | - J Christie-Sands
- Trauma Psychotherapy Scotland, 15 Newton Terrace, Glasgow G3 7PJ, United Kingdom
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9
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Kovner R, Oler JA, Kalin NH. Cortico-Limbic Interactions Mediate Adaptive and Maladaptive Responses Relevant to Psychopathology. Am J Psychiatry 2019; 176:987-999. [PMID: 31787014 PMCID: PMC7014786 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19101064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Cortico-limbic circuits provide a substrate for adaptive behavioral and emotional responses. However, dysfunction of these circuits can result in maladaptive responses that are associated with psychopathology. The prefrontal-limbic pathways are of particular interest because they facilitate interactions among emotion, cognition, and decision-making functions, all of which are affected in psychiatric disorders. Regulatory aspects of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are especially relevant to human psychopathology, as the PFC, in addition to its functions, is more recent from an evolutionary perspective and is considerably more complex in human and nonhuman primates compared with other species. This review provides a neuroanatomical and functional perspective of selected regions of the limbic system, the medial temporal lobe structures-the hippocampus and amygdala as well as regions of the PFC. Beyond the specific brain regions, emphasis is placed on the structure and function of critical PFC-limbic circuits, linking alterations in the processing of information across these pathways to the pathophysiology and psychopathology of various psychiatric illnesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rothem Kovner
- Department of Neuroscience and Kavli Institute of Neuroscience,
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn
| | - Jonathan A. Oler
- Department of Psychiatry and HealthEmotions Research Institute,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
| | - Ned H. Kalin
- Department of Psychiatry and HealthEmotions Research Institute,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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10
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Cook JR, Platek SM, Espinoza CN. Proposed symptom-based model of the origins of schizophrenia. Med Hypotheses 2019; 134:109428. [PMID: 31678901 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is considered a severe mental illness and effects an estimated 1% of the world population. The evidence suggests that incidence rate has been and will continue to be stable over time. Here we adopt a symptomatology-focused evolutionary informed approach to discuss the possible biological adaptations of various presentations of schizophrenia. It is our contention that rather than thinking about schizophrenia as a single disorder, or even a spectrum of disorders, marked by social maladaptation and personal subjective distress, that an evolutionary interpretation based on adaptive nature of individual, or small clusters of, symptoms could prove to be more useful in better understanding the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and its relationship with other psychiatric diagnoses.
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11
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Ribeiro da Silva D, Rijo D, Castilho P, Gilbert P. The Efficacy of a Compassion-Focused Therapy–Based Intervention in Reducing Psychopathic Traits and Disruptive Behavior: A Clinical Case Study With a Juvenile Detainee. Clin Case Stud 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/1534650119849491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Conduct disorder (CD) is the most diagnosed psychopathological disorder in juvenile detainees. The presence of a CD diagnosis, especially when associated with psychopathic traits, contributes to a poor prognosis, high recidivism rates, and low responsivity to treatment in these youth. Although group intervention programs have proven to be effective in decreasing antisocial behavior, studies testing their efficacy in reducing psychopathic traits are scarce and limited. Moreover, there is a lack of research focused on the efficacy of individual treatment approaches specifically designed to reduce psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior in juvenile detainees. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) shows promising results in the treatment of several psychopathological disorders. Besides, there is some theoretical support to consider CFT a suitable approach to treating juvenile detainees. However, there are no treatment programs based on CFT that are designed to target psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior in these youth. Consequently, treatment outcome research in this area is absent. This clinical case study presents the treatment of a juvenile detainee with CD, a high psychopathic profile, and a very high risk for criminal recidivism using the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program (a 20-session individual CFT program), which was specially designed to reduce psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior. The treatment outcome data revealed a significant reduction in psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior. The treatment gains were maintained and/or increased over time (3 months after program completion). This clinical case study demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program in reducing psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior in a juvenile detainee.
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12
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Davila A, Crawford M. Including transcendental needs in a unified model of motivation. JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1108/jmd-06-2017-0205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to existing models of human motivation by measuring transcendental needs along with the more commonly studied basic and social needs in order to take into account the multitude of needs experienced in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey combining the Big Five Inventory (John and Srivastava, 1999) with the authors’ 30-item need-level questionnaire was administered to 366 participants (162 males, 204 females). The authors examined the relation between need levels, particularly transcendental needs, and personality to detect the predictors of the different personality traits.
Findings
The results showed that extraversion (r=0.24; p<0.001) and agreeableness (r=0.19; p<0.001) are predicted by high social needs, whereas openness to experience is predicted by high transcendental needs (r=0.35; p<0.001). While the authors made no hypotheses about conscientiousness and neuroticism, they found that neuroticism was significantly correlated with transcendental needs (r=−0.15; p<0.01).
Research limitations/implications
The relations between needs and other individual dimensions, such as values or interests, could be further examined. The nature of the sample could be extended in additional studies.
Practical implications
Since need levels were able to predict personality traits, measuring need levels instead of personality could be a better predictor of both adaptability and performance in specific contexts.
Social implications
In a position that requires a specific vocation and sense of purpose (priest, counselor, etc.), transcendental needs could be a better predictor of job achievement than personality traits. Monitoring all levels of needs could also be valuable in helping managers develop a deeper understanding of their team members’ expectations for meaning and purpose.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the model on human motivation by adding one more level (transcendental) and by testing the hypothesis of a link between a need scale and personality traits.
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Abstract
Brain has been the most fascinating and mysterious organ of the human body. Researchers have tried to explore into each and every function of different parts of the human brain linking it up with various mental and neural processes, some of which are phylogenetically shared and many are unshared. It has been hypothesized that brain is built during development and can be rebuilt during psychotherapy. Recent research in neuroscience of socioemotional cognition, developmental neuroscience, coupled with advances in investigative techniques of brain functions has provided tremendous opportunities for the study of brain and the mind. In this article, in the initial part, we have tried to explain the developmental processes involved in building of the human brain and what changes occur when an individual develops a psychiatric disorder. Later on, we have tried to postulate from different researches available that how psychotherapy can bring about a change in the neural mechanisms of the brain producing long-lasting effects. Several changes in the neural architecture of the brain occur during the process of psychotherapy. Further, we would like to elaborate on the hypothesis based on available literature that if psychiatric disorders can debuild the brain, then psychotherapy can help in rebuilding it again.
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Affiliation(s)
- Savita Malhotra
- Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
| | - Swapnajeet Sahoo
- Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
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Anderzhanova E, Kirmeier T, Wotjak CT. Animal models in psychiatric research: The RDoC system as a new framework for endophenotype-oriented translational neuroscience. Neurobiol Stress 2017; 7:47-56. [PMID: 28377991 PMCID: PMC5377486 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2017.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Revised: 02/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/20/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The recently proposed Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) system defines psychopathologies as phenomena of multilevel neurobiological existence and assigns them to 5 behavioural domains characterizing a brain in action. We performed an analysis on this contemporary concept of psychopathologies in respect to a brain phylogeny and biological substrates of psychiatric diseases. We found that the RDoC system uses biological determinism to explain the pathogenesis of distinct psychiatric symptoms and emphasises exploration of endophenotypes but not of complex diseases. Therefore, as a possible framework for experimental studies it allows one to evade a major challenge of translational studies of strict disease-to-model correspondence. The system conforms with the concept of a normality and pathology continuum, therefore, supports basic studies. The units of analysis of the RDoC system appear as a novel matrix for model validation. The general regulation and arousal, positive valence, negative valence, and social interactions behavioural domains of the RDoC system show basic construct, network, and phenomenological homologies between human and experimental animals. The nature and complexity of the cognitive behavioural domain of the RDoC system deserve further clarification. These homologies in the 4 domains justifies the validity, reliably and translatability of animal models appearing as endophenotypes of the negative and positive affect, social interaction and general regulation and arousal systems’ dysfunction. The RDoC system encourages endophenotype-oriented experimental studies in human and animals. The system conforms with the normality-pathology continuum concept. The RDoC system appears to be a suitable framework for basic research. Four RDoC domains show construct and phenomenological homology in human and animals. Endophenotype-based models of affective psychopathologies appear most reliable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elmira Anderzhanova
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Kraepelinstrasse 2, 80804 Munich, Germany; FSBI "Zakusov Institute of Pharmacology", Baltiyskaya street, 8, 125315, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Carsten T Wotjak
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Kraepelinstrasse 2, 80804 Munich, Germany
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15
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Orsolini L, St John-Smith P, McQueen D, Papanti D, Corkery J, Schifano F. Evolutionary Considerations on the Emerging Subculture of the E-psychonauts and the Novel Psychoactive Substances: A Comeback to the Shamanism? Curr Neuropharmacol 2017; 15:731-737. [PMID: 27834144 PMCID: PMC5771049 DOI: 10.2174/1570159x15666161111114838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2016] [Revised: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/03/2016] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Evolutionary research on drug abuse has hitherto been restricted to proximate studies, considering aetiology, mechanism, and ontogeny. However, in order to explain the recent emergency of a new behavioral pattern (e.g. 'the e-psychonaut style') of novel psychoactive substances' (NPS) intake, a complementary evolutionary model may be needed. OBJECTIVE A range of evolutionary interpretations on the 'psychonaut style' and the recent emergency of NPS were here considered. METHOD The PubMed database was searched in order to elicit evolutionary theory-based documents commenting on NPS/NPS users/e-psychonauts. RESULTS The traditional 'shamanic style' use of entheogens/plant-derived compounds may present with a range of similarities with the 'e-psychonauts' use of mostly of hallucinogen/psychedelic NPS. These users consider themselves as 'new/technological' shamans. CONCLUSION Indeed, a range of evolutionary mechanisms, such as: optimal foraging, costly signaling, and reproduction at the expense of health may all cooperate to explain the recent spread and diffusion of the NPS market, and this may represent a reason of concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Orsolini
- Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB
- Villa San Giuseppe Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Ascoli Piceno, Italy
- Polyedra Research, Polyedra, Teramo, Italy
| | - Paul St John-Smith
- Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Civic Offices, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1WA
| | - Daniel McQueen
- Child and Family Department, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Child and Family Department – 120 Belsize Lane, London, NW3 5BA & Eating Disorder Unit, Cygnet Hospital Ealing, 22 Corfton Road, Ealing, W5 2HT, UK
| | - Duccio Papanti
- Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB
| | - John Corkery
- Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB
| | - Fabrizio Schifano
- Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB
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16
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Tay AK, Rees S, Chen J, Kareth M, Silove D. Pathways involving traumatic losses, worry about family, adult separation anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms amongst refugees from West Papua. J Anxiety Disord 2015; 35:1-8. [PMID: 26275507 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2015] [Revised: 07/02/2015] [Accepted: 07/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
There is some evidence that adult separation anxiety disorder (ASAD) symptoms are closely associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst refugees exposed to traumatic events (TEs), but the pathways involved remain to be elucidated. A recent study suggests that separation anxiety disorder precedes and predicts onset of PTSD. We examined a path model testing whether ASAD symptoms and worry about family mediated the path from traumatic losses to PTSD symptoms amongst 230 refugees from West Papua. Culturally adapted measures were applied to assess TE exposure and symptoms of ASAD and PTSD. A structural equation model indicated that ASAD symptoms played an important role in mediating the effects of traumatic losses and worry about family in the pathway to PTSD symptoms. Although based on cross-sectional data, our findings suggest that ASAD symptoms may play a role in the path from traumatic losses to PTSD amongst refugees. We propose an evolutionary model in which the ASAD and PTSD reactions represent complementary survival responses designed to protect the individual and close attachments from external threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvin Kuowei Tay
- Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, School of Psychiatry and Ingham Institute, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia.
| | - Susan Rees
- Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, School of Psychiatry and Ingham Institute, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
| | - Jack Chen
- Simpson Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Moses Kareth
- Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, School of Psychiatry and Ingham Institute, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
| | - Derrick Silove
- Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, School of Psychiatry and Ingham Institute, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
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17
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Silton NR, Flannelly KJ, Galek K, Ellison CG. Beliefs about God and mental health among American adults. JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH 2014; 53:1285-1296. [PMID: 23572240 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-013-9712-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
This study examines the association between beliefs about God and psychiatric symptoms in the context of Evolutionary Threat Assessment System Theory, using data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey of US Adults (N = 1,426). Three beliefs about God were tested separately in ordinary least squares regression models to predict five classes of psychiatric symptoms: general anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion. Belief in a punitive God was positively associated with four psychiatric symptoms, while belief in a benevolent God was negatively associated with four psychiatric symptoms, controlling for demographic characteristics, religiousness, and strength of belief in God. Belief in a deistic God and one's overall belief in God were not significantly related to any psychiatric symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nava R Silton
- Department of Psychology, Marymount Manhattan College, 221 E. 71st Street, New York, NY, 10021, USA,
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18
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Pulcu E. An evolutionary perspective on gradual formation of superego in the primal horde. Front Psychol 2014; 5:8. [PMID: 24478740 PMCID: PMC3900855 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Freud proposed that the processes which occurred in the primal horde are essential for understanding superego formation and therefore, the successful dissolution of the Oedipus complex. However, Freud theorized superego formation in the primal horde as if it is an instant, all-or-none achievement. The present paper proposes an alternative model aiming to explain gradual development of superego in the primitive man. The proposed model is built on knowledge from evolutionary and neural sciences as well as anthropology, and it particularly focuses on the evolutionary significance of the acquisition of fire by hominids in the Pleistocene period in the light of up-to-date archaeological findings. Acquisition of fire is discussed as a form of sublimation which might have helped Prehistoric man to maximize the utility of limited evolutionary biological resources, potentially contributing to the rate and extent of bodily evolution. The limitations of both Freud's original conceptualization and the present model are discussed accordingly in an interdisciplinary framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erdem Pulcu
- Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, University of Manchester Medical School Manchester, UK
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19
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Markowitsch HJ. Memory and self-neuroscientific landscapes. ISRN NEUROSCIENCE 2013; 2013:176027. [PMID: 24967303 PMCID: PMC4045540 DOI: 10.1155/2013/176027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2013] [Accepted: 04/22/2013] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Relations between memory and the self are framed from a number of perspectives-developmental aspects, forms of memory, interrelations between memory and the brain, and interactions between the environment and memory. The self is seen as dividable into more rudimentary and more advanced aspects. Special emphasis is laid on memory systems and within them on episodic autobiographical memory which is seen as a pure human form of memory that is dependent on a proper ontogenetic development and shaped by the social environment, including culture. Self and episodic autobiographical memory are seen as interlocked in their development and later manifestation. Aside from content-based aspects of memory, time-based aspects are seen along two lines-the division between short-term and long-term memory and anterograde-future-oriented-and retrograde-past-oriented memory. The state dependency of episodic autobiographical is stressed and implications of it-for example, with respect to the occurrence of false memories and forensic aspects-are outlined. For the brain level, structural networks for encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval are discussed both by referring to patient data and to data obtained in normal participants with functional brain imaging methods. It is elaborated why descriptions from patients with functional or dissociative amnesia are particularly apt to demonstrate the facets in which memory, self, and personal temporality are interwoven.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans J. Markowitsch
- Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Universitaetsstraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
- Center of Excellence “Cognitive Interaction Technology” (CITEC), University of Bielefeld, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
- Hanse Institute of Advanced Science, P. O. Box 1344, 27733 Delmenhorst, Germany
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van Dongen J, Boomsma DI. The evolutionary paradox and the missing heritability of schizophrenia. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2013; 162B:122-36. [PMID: 23355297 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2012] [Accepted: 01/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is one of the most detrimental common psychiatric disorders, occurring at a prevalence of approximately 1%, and characterized by increased mortality and reduced reproduction, especially in men. The heritability has been estimated around 70% and the genome-wide association meta-analyses conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium have been successful at identifying an increasing number of risk loci. Various theories have been proposed to explain why genetic variants that predispose to schizophrenia persist in the population, despite the fitness reduction in affected individuals, a question known as the evolutionary paradox. In this review, we consider evolutionary perspectives of schizophrenia and of the empirical evidence that may support these perspectives. Proposed evolutionary explanations include balancing selection, fitness trade-offs, fluctuating environments, sexual selection, mutation-selection balance and genomic conflicts. We address the expectations about the genetic architecture of schizophrenia that are predicted by different evolutionary scenarios and discuss the implications for genetic studies. Several potential sources of "missing" heritability, including gene-environment interactions, epigenetic variation, and rare genetic variation are examined from an evolutionary perspective. A better understanding of evolutionary history may provide valuable clues to the genetic architecture of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, which is highly relevant to genetic studies that aim to detect genetic risk variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny van Dongen
- Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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21
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Abstract
Major depressive disorder is a serious medical illness which is responsible for considerable morbidity and disability. Despite decades of research, the neural basis for depression is still incompletely understood. In this review, evidence from neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric and brain stimulations studies are explored to answer the question regarding the localization of depression in the brain. Neuroimaging studies indicate that although many regions of the brain have been repeatedly implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, not many consistent findings have been found until present. In recent times, the focus of neuroimaging has shifted from regional brain abnormalities to circuit level connectivity abnormalities. However, connectivity models are inherently more complicated, and the validity of these models remains to be tested. Neuropsychiatric studies of illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and stroke provide promising clues regarding areas involved in depression, but again consistent findings are rare. Similarly, stimulation of a variety of brain regions and circuits has been reported as being effective in depression. Therefore, the current knowledge indicates that the pathophysiology of depression may be distributed across many brain regions and circuits. In future studies, this distributed nature of depression needs to be further investigated, primary and secondary areas affected need to be identified, and new paradigms to explain complex mental functions need to be explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayur Pandya
- Department of Psychiatry and Center for Behavioral Health, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic
| | - Murat Altinay
- Department of Psychiatry and Center for Behavioral Health, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic
| | - Donald A. Malone
- Department of Psychiatry and Center for Behavioral Health, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic
| | - Amit Anand
- Indiana University Center for Neuroimaging, Department of Radiology, 950 West Walnut Street, E124, Indianapolis, IN 46202
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22
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Flannelly KJ, Ellison CG, Galek K, Silton NR. Belief in life-after-death, beliefs about the world, and psychiatric symptoms. JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH 2012; 51:651-662. [PMID: 22565398 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-012-9608-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) to test five hypotheses: (1) that religious commitment is positively related to belief in life-after-death; that belief in life-after-death is (2) positively related to belief in an equitable world, and (3) negatively related to belief in a cynical world; (4) that belief in a cynical world has a pernicious association with psychiatric symptoms; and (5) that belief in an equitable world has a salubrious association with psychiatric symptoms. As hypothesized, religious commitment was positively related to belief in life-after-death (β = .74). In turn, belief in life-after-death was negatively associated with belief in a cynical world (β = -.16) and positively associated with belief in an equitable world (β = .36), as hypothesized. SEM further confirmed that belief in a cynical world had a significant pernicious association with all five classes of psychiatric symptoms (β's = .11 to .30). Belief in an equitable world had a weaker and less consistent salubrious association with psychiatric symptoms. The results are discussed in the context of ETAS theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin J Flannelly
- The Spears Research Institute, HealthCare Chaplaincy, 307 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA.
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23
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Varga S. Evolutionary psychiatry and depression: testing two hypotheses. MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE, AND PHILOSOPHY 2012; 15:41-52. [PMID: 21221814 DOI: 10.1007/s11019-010-9305-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
In the last few decades, there has been a genuine 'adaptive turn' in psychiatry, resulting in evolutionary accounts for an increasing number of psychopathologies. In this paper, I explore the advantages and problems with the two main evolutionary approaches to depression, namely the mismatch and persistence accounts. I will argue that while both evolutionary theories of depression might provide some helpful perspectives, the accounts also harbor significant flaws that might question their authority and usefulness as explanations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Somogy Varga
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Albrechtstraße 28, 49069 Osnabrück, Germany.
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24
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Ruttle PL, Serbin LA, Stack DM, Schwartzman AE, Shirtcliff EA. Adrenocortical attunement in mother–child dyads: Importance of situational and behavioral characteristics. Biol Psychol 2011; 88:104-11. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2010] [Revised: 06/28/2011] [Accepted: 06/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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25
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Murray E, Wise S, Rhodes S. What Can Different Brains Do with Reward? NEUROBIOLOGY OF SENSATION AND REWARD 2011. [DOI: 10.1201/b10776-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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26
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Adaptation to potential threat: The evolution, neurobiology, and psychopathology of the security motivation system. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2011; 35:1019-33. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2010] [Revised: 07/21/2010] [Accepted: 08/04/2010] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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Flannelly KJ, Galek K. Religion, evolution, and mental health: attachment theory and ETAS theory. JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH 2010; 49:337-350. [PMID: 19291405 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-009-9247-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2009] [Accepted: 03/03/2009] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
This article reviews the historical origins of Attachment Theory and Evolutionary Threat Assessment Systems Theory (ETAS Theory), their evolutionary basis and their application in research on religion and mental health. Attachment Theory has been most commonly applied to religion and mental health in research on God as an attachment figure, which has shown that secure attachment to God is positively associated with psychological well-being. Its broader application to religion and mental health is comprehensively discussed by Kirkpatrick (2005). ETAS Theory explains why certain religious beliefs--including beliefs about God and life-after-death--should have an adverse association, an advantageous association, or no association at all with mental health. Moreover, it makes specific predictions to this effect, which have been confirmed, in part. The authors advocate the application of ETAS Theory in research on religion and mental health because it explains how religious and other beliefs related to the dangerousness of the world can directly affect psychiatric symptoms through their affects on specific brain structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin J Flannelly
- The Spears Research Institute, HealthCare Chaplaincy, 307 E. 60th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA.
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28
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Price JS. The agonic and hedonic modes: Definition, usage, and the promotion of mental health. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/02604027.1992.9972318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Flannelly KJ, Galek K, Ellison CG, Koenig HG. Beliefs about God, psychiatric symptoms, and evolutionary psychiatry. JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH 2010; 49:246-261. [PMID: 19326216 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-009-9244-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
The present study analyzed the association between specific beliefs about God and psychiatric symptoms among a representative sample of 1,306 U.S. adults. Three pairs of beliefs about God served as the independent variables: Close and Loving, Approving and Forgiving, and Creating and Judging. The dependent variables were measures of General Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive-Compulsion, Paranoid Ideation, Social Anxiety, and Somatization. As hypothesized, the strength of participants' belief in a Close and Loving God had a significant salutary association with overall psychiatric symptomology, and the strength of this association was significantly stronger than that of the other beliefs, which had little association with the psychiatric symptomology. The authors discuss the findings in the context of evolutionary psychiatry, and the relevance of Evolutionary Threat Assessment Systems Theory in research on religious beliefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin J Flannelly
- The Spears Research Institute, HealthCare Chaplaincy, 307 E. 60th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA.
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30
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Adriaens PR, De Block A. The evolutionary turn in psychiatry: a historical overview. HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRY 2010; 21:131-143. [PMID: 21877368 DOI: 10.1177/0957154x10370632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Ever since Darwin, psychiatrists have been tempted to put evolutionary theory to use in their efforts to understand and explain various aspects of mental disorders. Following a number of pivotal developments in the history of evolutionary thought, including degeneration theory, ethology and the modern synthesis, this introductory paper provides an overview of the many trends and schools in the history of 'psychiatric Darwinism' and 'evolutionary psychiatry'. We conclude with an attempt to distinguish three underlying motives in asking evolutionary questions about mental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter R Adriaens
- Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierplein 2, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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31
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Abstract
BACKGROUND In some cases of hemiplegia, the initiation of yawning is associated with involuntary raising of the paralysed arm. Reports are scarce in the literature, probably because the phenomenon has largely been overlooked. METHODS We studied six patients from two neurologic units, and compared them with published cases from the last 200 years. Brain imaging typically shows a small vascular lesion most often located in the internal capsule. RESULTS After comparison with experimental models in cats, we suggest that damage to the cortico-neocerebellar tract of the extrapyramidal system disinhibits the spino-archeocerebellar tract, enabling a motor stimulation of the arm by the lateral reticular nucleus, which harmonises both central respiratory and locomotor rhythms. CONCLUSIONS When phylogenetically primitive structures are disinhibited, they regain autonomy in the homeostatic process associating the massive inspiration of yawning--a form of behaviour that stimulates vigilance--with a motor control mechanism that is active during locomotion. For this phenomenon, we coined the term 'parakinesia brachialis oscitans'.
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Abelson JL, Khan S, Giardino N. HPA axis, respiration and the airways in stress--a review in search of intersections. Biol Psychol 2010; 84:57-65. [PMID: 20144683 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2009] [Revised: 01/27/2010] [Accepted: 01/31/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Given clear connections between respiratory distress and subjective anxiety, it is not surprising that respiratory psychophysiologists have been interested in the psychobiology of anxiety. Given parallel links between anxiety and stress, it is not surprising that the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) stress system has also been a focus in anxiety research. However, despite extensive work in respiratory psychophysiology and stress neuroendocrinology--and evidence that these systems are jointly dysregulated in anxiety disorders--direct studies of their interactions are rare. This paper reviews evidence for scientific intersections, providing an overview of the HPA axis, its psychobiology, and shared neural substrates for HPA and respiratory control. We examine HPA hormone effects on respiration, immune/inflammatory mediators, and lung maturation. We also examine respiratory/dyspnea effects on HPA axis. There are clear points of intersection in the neuroscience of respiration and stress. Given the importance of both systems to an organism's ability to survive and adapt in challenging and changing environments, further study of their interactions is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- James L Abelson
- Stress and Anxiety Research Group, Department of Psychiatry Trauma, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
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33
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Abstract
Paul D. MacLean, a leading brain scientist of the 20th century, died on December 26, 2007. We review his life as a scientist and highlight some of his most important research contributions.
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Abstract
This article reviews aspects of the literature on neuroscience, psychiatry, and cognitive and evolutionary psychology to illustrate how primitive brain mechanisms that evolved to assess environmental threats underlie psychiatric disorders, and how beliefs can affect psychiatric symptoms through these brain systems. Psychiatric theories are discussed that (a) link psychiatric disorders to threat assessment and (b) explain how the normal functioning of threat assessment systems can become pathological. Three brain structures that are consistently implicated in psychiatric symptomology also are involved in threat assessment and self-defense: the prefrontal cortex, the basal ganglia, and parts of the so-called limbic system. We propose that as these structures evolved over time they formed what we refer to as evolutionary threat assessment systems, which detect and assess potential threats of harm. Drawing on various psychological and psychiatric theories we propose how beliefs about the world can moderate psychiatric symptoms through their influence on evolutionary threat assessment systems.
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35
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Price JS, Gardner R, Wilson DR, Sloman L, Rohde P, Erickson M. Territory, Rank and Mental Health: The History of an Idea. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2007. [DOI: 10.1177/147470490700500305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
We trace the development of ideas about the relation of mood to social rank and territory. We suggest that elevated mood enabled a person to rise in rank and cope with the increased activities and responsibilities of a leadership role, while depressed mood enabled a person to accept low rank and to forego the rewards associated with high rank. This led to the concept of a trio of agonist/investor strategy sets, each consisting of escalating and de-escalating strategies, one set at each of the three levels of the triune forebrain. Depressed mood can be seen as a de-escalating (appeasement) strategy at the lowest (reptilian) level; this should facilitate de-escalation at the highest (rational) level, but sometimes this rational level de-escalation is blocked (e.g., by stubbornness, courage, pride or ambition) and then clinical depression may ensue. These evolved psychobiological mechanisms survived the partial transition from agonistic to prestige competition. We discuss difficulties which have arisen with our ideas, and their implications for clinical work and research.
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Affiliation(s)
- John S. Price
- Chanctonbury Community Mental Health Team, Old Mill Square, Storrington, West Sussex, UK
| | - Russell Gardner
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Daniel R. Wilson
- Department of Psychiatry, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Leon Sloman
- Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Mark Erickson
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
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Anderson J. Forgiveness – a relational process: Research and reflections. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY & COUNSELLING 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/13642530601164380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Eisenberger NI. Identifying the Neural Correlates Underlying Social Pain: Implications for Developmental Processes. Hum Dev 2006. [DOI: 10.1159/000095580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Vatne S, Holmes C. Limit setting in mental health: historical factors and suggestions as to its rationale. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 2006; 13:588-97. [PMID: 16965479 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2006.00987.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The task of enforcing behavioural limits in mental health settings is widely regarded as necessary but also potentially counter-therapeutic. There has been little discussion of the ideological basis for limit setting in psychiatry, and this paper attempts to locate the progress of this ideology from the moral treatment movement to contemporary medicalized psychiatry. It is suggested that limit setting has its foundations in the Enlightenment tradition of the autonomous individual and the power of reason, and in the dual functions of psychiatry as a therapeutic and social control system. The account draws on the work of critical psychiatry, as well as on recent research concerning the discourses and practices of mental health nurses, and concludes that these dual functions are inherent to the psychiatric project.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Vatne
- Institute of Health Science, Molde University College, Molde, Norway.
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Stein DJ. Evolutionary theory, psychiatry, and psychopharmacology. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2006; 30:766-73. [PMID: 16580111 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/10/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Darwin's seminal publications in the nineteenth century laid the foundation for an evolutionary approach to psychology and psychiatry. Advances in 20th century evolutionary theory facilitated the development of evolutionary psychology and psychiatry as recognized areas of scientific investigation. In this century, advances in understanding the molecular basis of evolution, of the mind, and of psychopathology, offer the possibility of an integrated approach to understanding the proximal (psychobiological) and distal (evolutionary) mechanisms of interest to psychiatry and psychopharmacology. There is, for example, growing interest in the question of whether specific genetic variants mediate psychobiological processes that have evolutionary value in specific contexts, and of the implications of this for understanding the vulnerability to psychopathology and for considering the advantages and limitations of pharmacotherapy. The evolutionary value, and gene-environmental mediation, of early life programming is potentially a particularly rich area of investigation. Although evolutionary approaches to psychology and to medicine face important conceptual and methodological challenges, current work is increasingly sophisticated, and may prove to be an important foundational discipline for clinicians and researchers in psychiatry and psychopharmacology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan J Stein
- University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
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Abstract
Charles Darwin would have said that yawning was a useless piece of physiology. If so, then how should the survival of this very stereotyped behavior among the poikilothermal and homoeothermic vertebrates, from the basic brained reptiles to human primates, whether in the air, on the land or in the sea be understand? This issue of the ethnological, neurophysiologic and neuropsychological literature depicts yawning as being associated with an alternation of "awake-sleep" rhythms, sexuality, and nutrition, where it appears as a reference behavior of the mechanisms stimulating the state of vigilance. In pharmacology, yawning is used as an indicator of dopamine-ocytocinergic pathway activity, but in the Parkinson patient the neurologist sees it as an expression of therapeutic dopaminergic activity. J.M. Charcot and his school considered yawning as a clinical sign, long since forgotten. However, many patients complain about excessive yawning. Iatrogenic causes are the most frequent and can be found among many neurological diseases: vasovagal syncope, migraine, epilepsy, hypophyseal tumor, or stroke. Our ability to achieve motor and emotional behavior in resonance with others is deeply rooted in hominid evolution, and probably explains the strange phenomenon of contagious yawning.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION In some cases of hemiplegia the onset of yawning is associated with an involuntary raising of the paralyzed arm. PATIENTS AND METHOD Four observations of this movement, which is seldom described probably because it is mostly neglected, were made in the neurology unit of the University Hospital of Poitiers. The descriptions were compared with other cases that have been published in the medical literature of the last 150 years. Cerebral imagery shows a lesion that is most often localized on the internal capsule. After comparison with experimental models in cats, it is proposed that the section of the cortico-neocerebellum tract of the extra-pyramidal system disinhibits the spino-archeocerebellum tract, enabling a motor stimulation of the arm by the lateral reticular nucleus, which harmonises central respiratory and locomotor rhythms. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Some subcortical structures, that are phylogenetically more ancient, thus disinhibit regained autonomy in the homeostasis process associating the massive inspiration of yawning--a form of reflex behavior that stimulates vigilance--with a motor control that is active during locomotion. For this phenomenon we coined the term "parakinesia brachialis oscitans".
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Abstract
The authors hypothesize that the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), despite their apparent nonrationality, have what might be termed an epistemic origin--that is, they stem from an inability to generate the normal "feeling of knowing" that would otherwise signal task completion and terminate the expression of a security motivational system. The authors compare their satiety-signal construct, which they term yedasentience, to various other senses of the feeling of knowing and indicate why OCD-like symptoms would stem from the abnormal absence of such a terminator emotion. In addition, they advance a tentative neuropsychological model to explain its underpinnings. The proposed model integrates many previous disparate observations and concepts about OCD and embeds it within the broader understanding of normal motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henry Szechtman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
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Abstract
Working as a physician, Paul MacLean's interests moved in the direction of the brain when he realized that most of his patients suffered from symptoms (e.g. anxiety, sleeping problems) that could not be traced to a known physiological cause. His curiosity about the neurological origins of these psychological symptoms led him to the laboratories of Stanley Cobb and James Papez, both of whom were influential in guiding MacLean's interests toward the temporal lobe. His neurobiological interest was not contained, however, to the temporal lobe. As his own family grew to include a wife and five children, his scholarly pursuits extended to social and familial relations and their accompanying underlying neuroanatomical circuits (i.e. the thalamocingulate system). Viewing the brain and behavior from an evolutionary perspective, MacLean introduced the concept of the "triune brain" to describe the evolutionarily distinct components of the mammalian brain and reintroduced Broca's term "limbic" to describe a neuroanatomical system involved in emotional functions. MacLean wrote that the development of social behaviors, such as mother-infant audiovocal communication and the separation cry of the offspring, served as the driving force in the evolution of the neocortex. MacLean's neuroevolutionary perspective and appreciation of the complexity and evolutionary significance of social systems offer valuable insights into the contemporary fields of behavioral neuroscience and biological psychiatry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly G Lambert
- Department of Psychology, Copley Science Center, Randolph-Macon College, P.O. Box 5005, Ashland, VA 23005, USA.
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Abstract
Paul MacLean has investigated integrated brain functioning through selected brain lesions in animals that disturb circuits necessary for complex behaviors, such as social displays. MacLean is unique in his comparative neurobehavioral approach that emphasizes the evolutionary origins of parenting and social behaviors and the implications of brain changes in the evolution from reptiles (social displays) to mammals (nursing, audiovocal communication, play) to man (self-awareness, intentionality, social context) that link affect and cognition. Subjectively, how "looking with feeling toward others," the basic element in empathy, evolved has been a central concern of his. Neuroimaging studies of social cognition, mother-infant communication, moral behavior, forgiveness, and trust are consistent with particular brain systems being activated in cooperative social behaviors. The identification of mirror neurons is pertinent to MacLean's model of isopraxis and studies of thalamocortical resonances may be pertinent to his neurobehavioral models. Studies of behavioral phenotypes in human neurodevelopmental disorders are consistent with MacLean's model of brain circuits being linked to complex behaviors during development. In autistic disorder, the behavioral phenotype involves disrupted social communication, deviant imaginative play, and motor stereotypies. In Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (LNS), self-injury occurs in individuals with normal sensory systems intact who require and request physical restraint to prevent self-injury; they ask for assistance from others to prevent them from harming themselves. Autism involves the lack of subjective awareness of others intentions and LNS involves a failure in self-regulation and self-control of self-injurious behavior. MacLean's models laid the groundwork for studies focused on understanding brain functioning in these conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- James C Harris
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
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Schore AN. Dysregulation of the right brain: a fundamental mechanism of traumatic attachment and the psychopathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2002; 36:9-30. [PMID: 11929435 DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.00996.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 291] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This review integrates recent advances in attachment theory, affective neuroscience, developmental stress research, and infant psychiatry in order to delineate the developmental precursors of posttraumatic stress disorder. METHOD Existing attachment, stress physiology, trauma, and neuroscience literatures were collected using Index Medicus/Medline and Psychological Abstracts. This converging interdisciplinary data was used as a theoretical base for modelling the effects of early relational trauma on the developing central and autonomic nervous system activities that drive attachment functions. RESULTS Current trends that integrate neuropsychiatry, infant psychiatry, and clinical psychiatry are generating more powerful models of the early genesis of a predisposition to psychiatric disorders, including PTSD. Data are presented which suggest that traumatic attachments, expressed in episodes of hyperarousal and dissociation, are imprinted into the developing limbic and autonomic nervous systems of the early maturing right brain. These enduring structural changes lead to the inefficient stress coping mechanisms that lie at the core of infant, child, and adult posttraumatic stress disorders. CONCLUSIONS Disorganised-disoriented insecure attachment, a pattern common in infants abused in the first 2 years of life, is psychologically manifest as an inability to generate a coherent strategy for coping with relational stress. Early abuse negatively impacts the developmental trajectory of the right brain, dominant for attachment, affect regulation, and stress modulation, thereby setting a template for the coping deficits of both mind and body that characterise PTSD symptomatology. These data suggest that early intervention programs can significantly alter the intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan N Schore
- University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Northridge, CA 91324, USA.
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Abstract
Repertoires of grooming behaviors critical to survival are exhibited by most animal species, including humans. Genes that influence this complex behavior are unknown. We report that mice with disruptions of Hoxb8 show, with 100% penetrance, excessive grooming leading to hair removal and lesions. Additionally, these mice excessively groom normal cagemates. We have been unable to detect any skin or PNS abnormalities in Hoxb8 mutants. These observations suggest that the excessive, pathological grooming exhibited by these mice results from CNS abnormalities. Consistent with this interpretation, we demonstrate Hoxb8 expression in regions of the adult mouse CNS previously implicated in the control of grooming. The aberrant behavior observed in Hoxb8 mutants is not unlike that of humans suffering from the OC-spectrum disorder, trichotillomania. Interestingly, Hoxb8 is expressed in regions of the CNS known as the "OCD-circuit."
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Affiliation(s)
- Joy M Greer
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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Rohde P. The relevance of hierarchies, territories, defeat for depression in humans: hypotheses and clinical predictions. J Affect Disord 2001; 65:221-30. [PMID: 11511402 DOI: 10.1016/s0165-0327(00)00219-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hierarchical and territorial behaviour are widespread in animals and humans. The consequences of defeat have been linked to depression in humans. However, hierarchical and territorial behaviours are not mentioned in ICD10 or DSM1V. I therefore investigated the coverage in relevant textbooks. METHOD I searched the indices of books on Animal Behaviour, General Psychology and General Psychiatry for entries on Hierarchy, Territory and Dominance. RESULTS A paradox is revealed. Hierarchical and territorial behaviour are widespread in both animals and humans but are neglected in textbooks of human behaviour and mental problems. Four hypotheses are put forward to explain this paradox and explore its implications. 1. That hierarchical and territorial behaviours evolved before human consciousness. They are available to consciousness but not in the forefront of awareness. 2. That human hierarchical and territorial behaviour are overlaid by a cultural veneer of manners, which conceal the true state of affairs. 3. That humans have internal, mental, hierarchical aims in addition to external physical hierarchical aims. 4. That failure to achieve internal hierarchical aims may produce diminution of well being and changes in behaviour by the same biological mechanisms that are active in external hierarchical defeat. Three testable predictions follow from these hypotheses. 1. That there are common genetic factors and similar patterns of brain activity in homologous structures during hierarchical and territorial behaviour in man, primates and lower vertebrates. 2. That brain structures involved in external hierarchical conflict, consciousness and imagery will be active during internal hierarchical conflict. 3. Defeat of internal hierarchical aims produce depressed mood and satisfying alternative hierarchical aims are protective. Case examples are given to illustrate the existence of, and the consequences of defeat on, internal hierarchies. LIMITATIONS These hypotheses and predictions are theoretical and require confirmation or refutation by neuroimaging and prospective studies. CONCLUSIONS A neglect of human hierarchical behaviour by clinicians is suggested and discussed. The concept of internal hierarchies, if confirmed, may throw light on human striving, the emotions of defeat and the therapy of depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Rohde
- South Kensington and Chelsea Mental Health Centre, 1 Nightingale Place, SW10 9NG, London, UK.
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Abstract
The cognitive perspective has been a dominant force in psychology and psychotherapy since the 1970s. Cognitive therapists assume that changing cognition is the key to bringing about changes in emotional reactions and symptomatic behaviors. This article examines evidence that is not consistent with the assumptions of cognitive therapy. First, neurobiological evidence is not consistent with the assumption that cognitions are necessary for emotions. Limbic structures allow for the possibility that emotions can be experienced without cortical processing. Second, research indicates that experiences can be stored as isolated affective fragments that distort cognitive functions. The assumptions of contemporary psychoanalytic models of therapy are consistent with this evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Shean
- Department of Psychology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA
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49
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Abstract
The ability to deceive is regarded as the best evidence of the cognitive ability separating humans from other primates. An alternative would be to look at the concept of the soul, which has an archetypal significance, emerging in various geographically remote cultures over the course of history. The soul will be an elusive but not an impossible concept to study with neuroimaging. In parapsychotic grief the decreased may appear to the bereaved person without these hallucinations being considered as indicative of mental illness. If this is the sort of normal human experience which has led to the emergence of the belief in the immortality of the soul it may be a useful starting point for defining the neuroanatomical basis of souls which do not necessarily seek to deceive. As the human prefrontal cortex expanded and developed and strove to understand mental activity derived from subcortical structures the human attained an awareness of his own mind which has been construed as a separable insubstantial but indestructible entity. This idea would be bizarre if it were not archetypal and therefore must be closely linked to the development of the human central nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Corrigan
- Argyll and Bute NHS Trust, Argyll and Bute Hospital, UK
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