The WPA Section of Evolutionary Psychiatry is pleased to announce a programme of free webinars which will take place bi-monthly via Zoom starting November 2021
Evolutionary science remains an overlooked area in psychiatry and medicine. The WPA Section of Evolutionary Psychiatry aims to reverse this trend by raising the profile of evolutionary thinking within the mental health care field. These webinars aim to provide a better understanding of the importance of the importance of evolutionary biology to psychiatry and encouraging research into domains that can be meaningfully understood if viewed from an evolutionary perspective. These include gene-environment interactions, ecological aspects, social inter-actions and nonverbal behaviour, and the interactions between the immune system, the microbiome, and the central nervous system.
The evolutionary approach seeks to extend the concept of causation to incorporate phylogenetic as well as adaptational (functional) causes of mental disorders (referred to as ultimate causes) alongside the proximate causes familiar to current mainstream psychiatry.
The topics covered in the webinars will benefit all mental health professionals who have an interest in the application of evolutionary thinking to the understanding of mental disorder and human psychology generally. The webinars will be delivered by eminent academics from across the world. The registration links are provided below for each webinar and early registration is advisable.
Free Webinar Programme for the Evolutionary Psychiatry Section
(Dates and times may vary slightly)
'Evolutionary Perspectives on Combat Stress: A Comparison of American Veterans and Turkana Warriors' by Matt Zefferman, Assistant Professor at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA on the 24th of November 2021 at 16.00 GMT
Registration link here.
'Friendship and Social Relationships: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships' by Robin Dunbar, Emeritus Professor, Oxford University, UK on the 27th of January 2022 at 16.00 GMT
Registration link here
'The Application of Evolutionary Thinking in Clinical Settings' by Henry O’Connell, Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor, University of Limerick, Ireland on the 31st of March 2022 at 16.00 BST
Registration link here.
'Why Relationships Exist: Evolutionary Foundations for Psychotherapy’ by Randolph Nesse, Professor of Life Sciences, and Former (Founding) Director, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, USA on the 26th of May 2022 at 16.00 BST
Registration link here.
For more information, please contact: Riadh Abed, FRCPsych, Secretary, WPA Section Evolutionary Psychiatry
Author: Riadh Abed, FRCPsych, Secretary, WPA Section Evolutionary Psychiatry