| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 879353 | Current Opinion in Psychology | 2016 | 7 Pages |
•Evolutionary theory helps explain the origin and development of psychopathology.•Recent evolutionary work has implications for taxonomies of mental disorders.•Evolutionary psychopathology offers an integrative framework for the discipline.
Evolutionary approaches to psychopathology have made considerable progress over the last years. In this paper, I review recent advances in the field focusing on three core themes: the role of trade-offs and conflicts in the origins mental disorders, the evolution of developmental mechanisms, and the emergence of alternative classification systems based on life history theory. I situate these advances in the context of current research in psychopathology, and highlight their connections with other innovative approaches such as developmental psychopathology and computational psychiatry. In total, I argue that evolutionary psychopathology offers an integrative framework for the study of mental disorders, and allows complementary approaches to connect and cross-fertilize.
