Evolution and schizophrenia

Tutors, examiners, researchers and textbook writers all tell us how important it is to be active in our learning. Here, Lance Workman gives some useful activities that will consolidate and enhance the article you have just read

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The relationship between evolution and schizophrenia comes under the field of evolutionary psychopathology that has been developing since the mid 1990s. This new field of investigation was largely initiated by a book called Evolution and Healing: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine (see ‘Further reading’) by evolutionary psychiatrist Randolph Nesse and evolutionary theorist (the late) George Williams. The following questions and topics for debate look at Nesse’s work and revisit the topics from my article.

1 Evolutionary psychopathology attempts to provide evolutionary explanations for mental illness and personality disorders. It argues that many of these problems are kept in the population due to the advantages they may provide (or might have done in our evolutionary past).