Using Evolutionary Theory to Guide Mental Health Research

Durisko, Zachary; Mulsant, Benoit H.; McKenzie, Kwame; Andrews, Paul W.

doi:10.1177/0706743716632517

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…First, the impact of natural selection on the removal of existing causal mutations may be slower than the addition of new genetic mutations causing, for example, ADHD or SCZ. Second, pre-existing neutral mutations may interact with environments that have been new exposures for the population, and cause the disorders 51 . Third, causal mutations underlying psychiatric disorders have positive effects on reproductive success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

Amare

Zhou

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Female reproductive behaviours have important implications for evolutionary fitness and health of offspring. Here we used the second release of UK Biobank data (N = 220,685) to evaluate the association between five female reproductive traits and polygenic risk scores (PRS) projected from genome-wide association study summary statistics of six psychiatric disorders (N = 429,178). We found that the PRS of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were strongly associated with age at first birth (AFB) (genetic correlation of −0.68 ± 0.03), age at first sexual intercourse (AFS) (−0.56 ± 0.03), number of live births (NLB) (0.36 ± 0.04) and age at menopause (−0.27 ± 0.04). There were also robustly significant associations between the PRS of eating disorder (ED) and AFB (0.35 ± 0.06), ED and AFS (0.19 ± 0.06), major depressive disorder (MDD) and AFB (−0.27 ± 0.07), MDD and AFS (−0.27 ± 0.03) and schizophrenia and AFS (−0.10 ± 0.03). These associations were mostly explained by pleiotropic effects and there was little evidence of causal relationships. Our findings can potentially help improve reproductive health in women, hence better child outcomes. Our findings also lend partial support to the evolutionary hypothesis that causal mutations underlying psychiatric disorders have positive effects on reproductive success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

Amare

Zhou

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…First, the impact of natural selection on the removal of existing causal mutations may be slower than the addition of new genetic mutations causing, for example, ADHD or SCZ. Second, pre-existing neutral mutations may interact with environments that have been newly exposure to the population, and cause the disorders 42 . Third, causal mutations underlying psychiatric disorders have positive effects on reproductive success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

Amare

Zhou

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Female reproductive behaviors have an important implication in evolutionary fitness and health of offspring. Previous studies have shown that age at first birth of women (AFB) is genetically associated with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, for most other psychiatric disorders and reproductive traits, the latent shared genetic architecture is largely unknown. Here we used the second wave of UK Biobank data (N=220,685) to evaluate the association between five female reproductive traits and polygenetic risk scores (PRS) projected from genome-wide association study summary statistics of six psychiatric disorders (N=429,178). We found that the PRS of attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were strongly associated with AFB (genetic correlation of -0.68 ± 0.03 with p-value = 1.86E-89), age at first sexual intercourse (AFS) (-0.56 ± 0.03 with p-value = 3.42E-60), number of live births (NLB) (0.36 ± 0.04 with p-value = 4.01E-17) and age at menopause (-0.27 ± 0.04 with p-value = 5.71E-13). There were also robustly significant associations between the PRS of eating disorder (ED) and AFB (genetic correlation of 0.35 ± 0.06), ED and AFS (0.19 ± 0.06), Major depressive disorder (MDD) and AFB (-0.27 ± 0.07), MDD and AFS (-0.27 ± 0.03) and SCZ and AFS (-0.10 ± 0.03). Our findings reveal the shared genetic architecture between the five reproductive traits in women and six psychiatric disorders, which have a potential implication that helps to improve reproductive health in women, hence better child outcomes. Our findings may also explain, at least in part, an evolutionary hypothesis that causal mutations underlying psychiatric disorders have positive effects on reproductive success.

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“…These studies suggest that regardless of whether an individual is treated for depression (e.g., with cognitive-behavioral therapy), there may be other factors that contribute to remission from MDD (Saragoussi et al, 2017;Vitriol et al, 2018). Alternative perspectives on the etiology of depression can provide insight into these factors (Durisko et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Analytical Rumination Hypothesis: Exploring the Longitudinal Effects of Problem Solving Analysis on Depression

et al. 2020

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Depression is a mental health condition for which individuals commonly seek treatment. However, depressive episodes often resolve on their own, even without treatment. One evolutionary perspective, the analytical rumination hypothesis (ARH), suggests that depression occurs in response to complex problems. According to this perspective, depressive symptoms promote analytical rumination, i.e., distraction-resistant thoughts about the causes of problems [causal analysis (CA)] and how they can be solved [problem-solving analysis (PSA)]. By helping individuals solve complex problems, analytical rumination may contribute to remission from depression. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) whether clinically-depressed individuals have more complex problems and engage in more CA and PSA than non-depressed and (2) the effects of CA and PSA on decreases in problem complexity, depressive symptoms, and remission from the depression. Samples of 85 patients were treated for depression with antidepressants and psychotherapy, and 49 healthy subjects were assessed three times over a 4-month period (at Weeks 1, 5, and 16). At each assessment, they completed measures of depression, analytical rumination, and problem complexity. Depressed individuals reported having more complex problems and engaging in more CA than non-depressed participants. The two groups engaged in a similar degree of PSA. Findings from a multiple regression suggested that more PSA at Week 1 was related to a decrease in depressive symptoms at Week 5, even after controlling for baseline depression, problem number, and complexity. PSA at Week 1 did not predict the remission after hospitalization or at follow-up; however, having less complex problems at the baseline made it more likely that a patient would later remit. Engaging in more CA or PSA at Week 1 did not affect perceived problem complexity at Week 5 or at follow-up. However, these findings were not statistically significant when influential observations (or outliers) were included in the analysis. Our findings suggest that PSA may contribute to a decrease in symptoms of depression over time. However, alleviations in problem complexity and remission might only be achieved if problems are initially less complex. Future directions involve exploring how PSA might contribute to decreases in depressive symptoms and other mechanisms underlying remission from depression.

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Using Evolutionary Theory to Guide Mental Health Research

Cited by 29 publications

References 81 publications

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

The genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and six psychiatric disorders

Testing the Analytical Rumination Hypothesis: Exploring the Longitudinal Effects of Problem Solving Analysis on Depression

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