good reasons for bad feelings randolph nesse

There are now more than a dozen books on the topic, and most research universities have courses on evolutionary medicine.īut medical schools still do not recognize that evolution is a crucial basic science just like genetics and physiology, so I have a lot of work yet to do. It has been thrilling to see evolutionary principles finally used to better understand and treat disease.

In the early 1990’s I collaborated with the biologist George Williams to write a series of papers and the book Why We Get Sick, which inspired much new work in what is now the thriving field of evolutionary medicine.įive years ago I moved to Arizona State University to start a Center for Evolutionary Medicine and the International Society for Evolution Medicine and Public Health. I was a professor of psychiatry for 40 years at the university of Michigan where I helped to develop one of the first specialized clinics treating patients with anxiety disorders. Nesse, MD, a founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and author of recently-published Good Reasons for Bad Feelings, helped us understand the gap between human physiology and modern environment, and how we can apply this field for better therapy outcomes.įirst, tell us a little about yourself and your background? From an evolutionary standpoint, why haven’t these detrimental traits and behaviors been filtered out and how might they affect us now? Our relationship with mental health is typically based on challenges we’re currently experiencing - but what if our current issues are rooted in the distant past? Often overlooked is the fact that our predispositions for conditions like depression and anxiety have existed for millenia.

Good reasons for bad feelings randolph nesse