Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights ...

Mental disorders are a real scourge on our species. But why is there so much mental suffering in human life? Part of the reason is that emotional states such as anxiety, low spirits, and grief have been preserved and shaped by natural selection because they are beneficial. True, up to a certain limit. Fear helps us avoid danger-but at the cost of inevitable false alarms. Depression keeps us from wasting energy in pursuit of the unfulfilled, but often escalates into pathological depression. Other mental disorders, such as drug or alcohol addiction or anorexia, arise from a mismatch between the ancient settings of our bodies and the modern environment. There is a strong evolutionary basis for both sexual disorders and the persistence of the schizophrenia genes. Drawing on illustrative cases from his own clinical practice and discoveries from evolutionary biology, Dr. Randolph Nessey not only answers the question of why natural selection has shaped the human psyche to be so fragile, but also tries to outline ways to alleviate these afflictions in a way that takes into account personal circumstances and individual differences.