Mental health and biological evolution: implications for psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine

Abstract Psychiatric disorders are common and seem to increase in prevalence worldwide. Most scientific approaches for this phenomenon fail to explain why the majority of mental disorders, unlike most somatic diseases, manifest in early adulthood, why individuals are not more resilient, and why some genes increasing the risk for mental disorders have not been selected against. In this article, an evolutionary perspective on mental health and disorder is taken. This perspective suggests that mismatches between ancestral and contemporary environments contribute to the risk for mental disorders. In addition, predictions from attachment theory and life history theory can explain individual differences with regard to the risk of developing a psychiatric or psychosomatic disorder. Insights from evolutionary approaches to psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders may contribute to improve the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.