Evolving Psychiatry

Why does severe trauma lead to PTSD? This episode considers work on combat stress and PTSD symptoms in Turkana warriors of North West Kenya, and how it relates to evolutionary explanations of PTSD symptoms. Matt Zefferman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He uses mathematical models and ethnographic field research to understand human culture, cooperation, and conflict – especially in the contexts of political organization and war. He has also conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Turkana pastoralist warriors in northwest Kenya. They have a high degree of combat exposure – with about half of adult male mortality due to combat in cattle raids. Matt is interested in how Turkana organization for war has influenced their susceptibility to combat stress and moral injury. He has interviewed hundreds of warriors about their combat experiences, moral beliefs about warfare, combat stress symptoms, and moral injury. Before starting as an assistant professor at NPS Matt was a Donald R. Beall Defense Fellow in his department. Before that he was a postdoctoral research fellow at ASU’s Institute of Human Origins and a member of  the Adaptation, Behavior, Culture and Society research group in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.  Before that, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and, before that, earned his PhD at the University of California, Davis in the Cultural Evolution and Human Behavioral Ecology Labs. Matt is also a US Air Force veteran with six years of service as a civil engineering officer with deployments to the UAE and Afghanistan.

Evolutionary explanations of depression could change how we perceive the condition, and how depressed people perceive themselves. In this episode, clinical psychologist Hans Schroder discusses his experiences and research in providing functional explanations of depression to patients. Hans Schroder is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan (U-M) Medical School and a Psychology Faculty Associate at U-M. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Michigan State University in 2018 and completed his internship and two-year postdoctoral fellowship at McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, followed by a 1-year postdoctoral fellowship at U-M in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine. As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Schroder’s primary role in Psychiatry is providing psychotherapy and exposure-based therapies to individuals and groups with anxiety and depressive disorders in the Adult Anxiety Clinic. His earlier research examined error-related brain activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) and its relation to anxiety and depression. His current research interests include understanding beliefs and messages about mental health (e.g., the “chemical imbalance” narrative) and their impacts on treatment expectations, decision-making and well-being. The goal of this research is to better equip patients and providers with messages that optimize motivation for improving mental health. You can follow Adam Hunt on Twitter/X @RealAdamHunt

Justin Garson is Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and a contributor for PsychologyToday.com and Aeon. He writes on the philosophy of madness, evolution of the mind, and purpose in nature. In this episode we discuss scientific concepts of dysfunction, the role of the paradigms framing psychiatry, and the possible benefits of evolutionary thinking about mental 'disorders'. Justin has two recently published books you should check out: Madness: A Philosophical Exploration (Oxford University Press, 2022) and The Biological Mind: A Philosophical Introduction, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2022). You can connect with Justin on Twitter @Justin_Garson You can connect with Adam on Twitter @RealAdamHunt

Joe Polimeni is a Canadian general psychiatrist and Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba who has conducted research in neuroscience, psychopharmacology and evolutionary psychiatry. His book, Shamans Among Us, outlines his hypothesis regarding the evolution of schizophrenia, which is the topic of this episode. You can purchase the book here: https://josephpolimeni.com/purchase.html You can follow Adam Hunt on Twitter/X @RealAdamHunt

Jerome Wakefield is a professor of social work in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Much of his work is in the history and philosophy of psychiatry. He is renowned in evolutionary psychiatry for his "harmful dysfunction" analysis of mental illness. We discuss our evolved human nature and how we can designate 'disorder' given our understanding of biological design, the pathologisation of normal sadness as depression, and the worth of evolutionary psychiatry to society. You can follow Adam Hunt on X/Twitter @RealAdamHunt

Tom Carpenter is a trainee psychiatrist in the West of Scotland. He is the trainee representative on the executive committee of the Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In this episode, we discuss Tom's intellectual history, the place of psychiatry in society and how we judge people, and how evolutionary thinking may affect psychiatry going forward. You can follow Adam Hunt on Twitter/X at @RealAdamHunt

Gurjot Brar is a trainee psychiatrist in Ireland. He runs the 'Evolution and Psychiatry' substack, a monthly collaborative 'journal' dedicated to discussing and exploring how evolutionary science can inform our understanding of psychiatry. In this episode we discuss how Gurjot got introduced to evolutionary psychiatry and the major points he finds exciting about the field. You can follow him on Twitter/X at @gurjotbrarmd You can follow Adam on Twitter/X at @RealAdamHunt

Professor Henry O’Connell is a Consultant Psychiatrist working in Portlaoise, Ireland and Associate Clinical Professor with the School of Medicine at the University of Limerick. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin in 1997, he obtained his Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2001. He holds Masters and doctorate level postgraduate qualifications in medical education and delirium research. In this episode, we discuss Henry's experience as a medical educator, the most important principles and takeaways of evolutionary psychiatry, and its clinical relevance. You can follow Henry on Twitter/X at @henrypoconnell You can follow Adam on Twitter/X at @realadamhunt

Kristen Syme is an Assistant Professor of Suicide and Suicide Prevention at Leiden University. She is an evolutionary anthropologist who works on understanding suicidal and self harm behavior from an evolutionary perspective, and works with the Chon Chuuk of Micronesia and the USA. In this episode Kristen and Adam discuss cases of adolescent-parent conflict, the outcomes and evolutionary models which help us understand such conflicts. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenSyme You can follow Adam on Twitter @RealAdamHunt

Kristen Syme is an Assistant Professor of Suicide and Suicide Prevention at Leiden University. She is an evolutionary anthropologist who works on understanding suicidal and self harm behavior from an evolutionary perspective, and works with the Chon Chuuk of Micronesia and the USA. In this episode Kristen and Adam discuss the bargaining model of suicidal behavior and depression, especially regarding adolescent-parent conflict. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenSyme You can follow Adam on Twitter @RealAdamHunt