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Adaptationism and medicalization: The Scylla and Charybdis of Darwinian psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2006

Alfonso Troisi*
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome00161, Italy

Abstract:

The target article shows that the application of the evolutionary theory to psychopathology should not necessarily consist in finding hidden adaptive benefits for each psychiatric syndrome. However, in rejecting lax adaptationism, Darwinian psychiatrists should not forget that the search for adaptive behavioral polymorphisms can be a powerful antidote against the normative attitude of mainstream psychiatry and its growing tendency to medicalize human diversity.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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