Evolutionary Clinical Psychology

    Evolutionary Psychology (Brody)
    • EVOLUTIONARY CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY by DOUG MACKIE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 3/25/97

    Evolutionary Clinical Psychology
    by James Brody, 3/26/97

    Evolutionary Clinical Psychology

    1) "ECP" could be missing the point; "EP" needs to be integrated with biology, biochemistry, medicine, pharmacology, anthropology. ECP will probably grow but will have limited clinical fruition without the other specialties. I prefer "Clinical Sociobiology" as a transdisciplinary effort. ECP would likely be one more niche in an overcrowded psych field that is already marred by so many artificial specialties. Still, we have to put our graduates somewhere! (Darwin would have loved it as would anyone who studies birds and territories); EP should fill quickly as function of population density. Initial altruism towards one another will probably fade as competition builds for limited resources.

    2) Darwinian theory abounds everywhere, even in people who swear they don't believe in it.

    3) Summer Course @ Cape Cod for the Einstein Institute, Week of August 25th-29th: John Pearce (coauthor of 1st text on evolutionary psychotherapy) and I will present "clinical sociobiology/ evolutionary psychology" but with credit to EO Wilson & Rich Dawkins (and the massive work that they represent) in addition to the Santa Barbara model (as shown in the Adapted Mind).

    4)The following texts are hastily referenced. Check my postings on "Books" for complete citations.

    5) Sulloway, Born to Rebel. Uses diversity and competition as mechanisms for ontogenetic paths taken as function of birth order. Also an inspiring collection of biographies about different scientists. Also an outstanding behavior portrait of mania (Type 1 Bipolars). I'm still not sure about the interaction between mania (and striving for dominance) with birth order; it may be substantial! Still a great piece of work regardless of how you interpret the self-selected data.

    6) Buss, Evolution of Desire. I've found the information valuable in counseling couples as well as confused singles. Some of them get annoyed by his data but they can't argue with it!

    7) Glantz & Pearce, Exiles from Eden. The 1st text on evolutionary psychotherapy. Anticipated much of the work that has followed.

    8) Barkow, Cosmides, & Tooby, The Adapted Mind. Speaks at some length about the evolution of cognitive mechanisms as one element in psychological adaptations. Lots of good material for clinical application. (See my notes in this column on maternal vocalizations).

    9) Hirschfeld,L & Gelman, S. Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture. Cambridge Univ Press, 1994, about $30 with shipping. 800-872-7423. I just got it today; should have comments in a week.

    10) Aaron Beck is rumored to be working on the notions of automatic thoughts, cognition and evolution.

    11) Personality disorders ... Millon has attempted to take the DSM listings and put an evolutionary coating on them. I wasn't too satisfied; however, it's been a while and I should take another look at his book.

    12) This column is largely dedicated to sharing clinical techniques and discussions within a sociobiology/evolutionary psych framework. So far, we've had some material on depression, ADHD, and maternal vocalizations. I'm posting material on conflict in the next day or so. Mania will take a series of postings. Join in at any time; any topic!

        • More about Darwin and Clinical Psych by James Brody, 3/26/97
        • Mania/Dominance by Ed Riemann, 3/31/97
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