Evolution: the bridge between 'biological' and 'social' psychiatry.

'Biological' and 'social' perspectives in psychiatry have exchanged dominance at different times in the history of our field and are sometimes erroneously viewed as being contrasting and mutually exclusive paradigms. We argue that the arbitrary 'biological/social' divide in psychiatry is misleading, unhelpful, and ultimately a false one. We propose that the evolutionary perspective provides a necessary framework and metatheory that can bridge this apparent schism in psychiatric thinking, providing novel and useful insights into how we can better assess, diagnose, and treat our patients.

Evolutionary theory can advance and revitalise the biopsychosocial model.

The biopsychosocial model remains a key paradigm for healthcare, despite widely recognised scientific and philosophical shortcomings. Here we report on recent updates integrating evolutionary theory with the biopsychosocial model to provide a more comprehensive and scientifically complete approach to understanding the multiple relevant levels of causation of medical and psychiatric problems.

Banging the drum: evolutionary and cultural origins of music and its implications for psychiatry.

There is growing interest in music-based therapies for mental/behavioural disorders. We begin by reviewing the evolutionary and cultural origins of music, proceeding then to discuss the principles of evolutionary psychiatry, itself a growing a field, and how it may apply to music. Finally we offer some implications for the role of music and music-based therapies in clinical practice.

Evobiopsychosocial medicine.

The biopsychosocial model remains the de facto framework of current healthcare, but lacks causational depth, scientific rigour, or any recognition of the importance of evolutionary theory for understanding health and disease. In this article it is updated to integrate Tinbergen's four questions with the three biopsychosocial levels. This 'evobiopsychosocial' schema provides a more complete framework for understanding causation of medical conditions.

How evolutionary science can help us understand vaccine refusal in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unvaccinated people have a mortality rate from COVID-19 that is 32-fold that of fully vaccinated people. Yet, in the UK, more than 4% of adults have not accepted a vaccine to protect them against COVID-19 and at the time of writing only 73% of people were fully vaccinated. Psychological and societal factors underlying vaccine hesitation or refusal are complex.

Evolutionary biology: an essential basic science for the training of the next generation of psychiatrists.

Evolutionary science can serve as the high-level organising principle for understanding psychiatry. Evolutionary concepts generate new models and ideas for future psychiatric study, research, policy and therapy. The authors accordingly make the case for the inclusion of evolutionary biology in the postgraduate education of psychiatric trainees.

Evolutionary Considerations on the Emerging Subculture of the E-psychonauts and the Novel Psychoactive Substances: A Comeback to the Shamanism?

Background: Evolutionary research on drug abuse has hitherto been restricted to proximate studies, considering aetiology, mechanism, and ontogeny. However, in order to explain the recent emergency of a new behavioral pattern (e.g.

Evolutionary psychiatry: a new College special interest group.

Evolutionary science remains an overlooked area in psychiatry and medicine. The newly established Royal College of Psychiatrists' Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group aims to reverse this trend by raising the profile of evolutionary thinking among College members and others further afield. Here we provide a brief outline of the importance of the evolutionary approach to both the theory and practice of psychiatry and for future research.

Equations for converting scores between depression scales (MÅDRS, SRS, PHQ-9 and BDI-II): good statistical, but weak idiographic, validity.

Background: A variety of depression rating scales are currently used in clinical and research practice. As these scales are generally thought to correlate well, there may be some benefit in deriving equations to translate the score on one scale to that on another.

Method: Using pairwise ratings, we compared the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MÅDRS), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Zung Self Rated Scale (SRS).

Classical and novel psychoactive substances: rethinking drug misuse from an evolutionary psychiatric perspective.

In this article, ontogenetic and phylogenetic causes of drug abuse and links to human emotional development are considered. Some evolutionary perspectives (e.g.

Placebo effects: a new paradigm and relevance to psychiatry.

Systematic evaluations show that placebo treatments can have large effects, sometimes larger than those of 'evidence-based treatments'. This is the 'efficacy paradox'. The neurobiology of placebo effects is being mapped out.