NOT A MENTAL DISORDER is a follow up to episode #23 'ANTHROPOLOGISTS QUESTION ADHD'. This is an episode with biological anthropologists Kristen Syme from Washington State University, the co-author of the article "Researchers call for new approach to some mental disorders".

In the paper, published in the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, the Syme and her co-author Edward Hagen propose a new approach to mental illness that would be informed by human evolution, noting that modern psychology, and in particular its use of drugs like antidepressants, has largely failed to reduce the prevalence of mental disorders. For example, the global prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders remained steady at 4.4% and 4% respectively from 1990 to 2010.

The anthropologists argue that some conditions might be a mismatch between modern and ancestral environments such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. Hagen pointed out that there is little in our evolutionary history that accounts for children sitting at desks quietly while watching a teacher do math equations at a board.

Other disorders such as depression, anxiety and PTSD are not hereditary, occur at any age and are often tied to threatening experiences. Hagen and Syme propose they may be responses to adversity and serve as signals, much like physical pain does, to make people aware of the need for help.

Here is a link to the article: https://news.wsu.edu/2020/05/26/researchers-call-new-approach-mental-disorders/

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