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Human compulsivity: A perspective from evolutionary medicine.

Dan J Stein1, Haggai Hermesh2, David Eilam3

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

European Neuropsychopharmacology : the Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
|January 3, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study explores evolutionary medicine to understand compulsive symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and behavioral addictions. Some OCD symptoms may be useful defenses, while addiction symptoms can stem from evolutionary mismatch, aiding assessment and intervention.

Keywords:
Evolutionary medicineEvolutionary psychiatryObsessive–compulsive and related disordersSubstance-related and addictive disorders

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Medicine
  • Neurobiology
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Biological explanations for disorders encompass proximal (e.g., neurobiology) and distal (evolutionary) mechanisms.
  • Evolutionary medicine identifies disease vulnerability factors like constraints, mismatch, and tradeoffs.
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and behavioral addictions exhibit compulsive symptoms requiring explanation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine compulsive symptoms in OCD and related disorders, and behavioral addictions through an evolutionary lens.
  • To propose that certain OCD symptoms can be viewed as adaptive defenses, despite the disorder often being a dysfunction.
  • To frame behavioral addiction symptoms using evolutionary concepts like mismatch for improved assessment and intervention.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review integrating evolutionary medicine principles with psychiatric and neurobiological research.
  • Conceptual analysis of compulsive symptoms within obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.
  • Application of evolutionary frameworks (mismatch, tradeoffs, constraints) to behavioral addictions.

Main Results:

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder is primarily a dysfunction, but some symptoms may represent evolutionarily useful defenses.
  • Compulsive symptoms in behavioral addictions can be understood as a mismatch between evolved predispositions and modern environments.
  • An evolutionary perspective offers valuable insights into the nature of these disorders.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding OCD and behavioral addiction symptoms through evolutionary medicine enhances theoretical and clinical approaches.
  • Viewing certain OCD symptoms as defenses provides a nuanced clinical perspective.
  • Evolutionary conceptualizations of behavioral addictions support evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies.