Is posttraumatic stress disorder an overlearned survival response? An evolutionary-learning hypothesis

Psychiatry (New York)

Volumn 61, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 181-190

  Silove, Derrick ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ASSOCIATION; AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR; BRAIN DEVELOPMENT; COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT; EVOLUTION; HUMAN; LEARNING; LIMBIC SYSTEM; PHOBIA; POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER; PSYCHOTRAUMA; REVIEW; SURVIVAL;

ANIMALS; CEREBRAL CORTEX; EVOLUTION; HUMANS; LIMBIC SYSTEM; MENTAL RECALL; NEURAL PATHWAYS; OVERLEARNING; PHYLOGENY; PROGNOSIS; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC; SURVIVAL;

EID: 0031927778     PISSN: 00332747     EISSN: 1943281X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1521/00332747.1998.11024830     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Andreason, N. C. Posttraumatic stress disorder: Psychology, biology, and the Manichaean warfare between false dichotomies. American Journal of Psychiatry (editorial) (1995) 152:963-5.
2. Bremner, J. D., Randall, P., Scott, T. M., Bronen, R. A., Seibyl, J. P., Southwick, S. M., Delaney, R. C., McCarthy, G., Charney, D. S., and Innis, R. B. MRI-based measurement of hippocampal volume in patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry (1995) 152:973-81.
3. Bremner, J. D., Randall, P., VERMETTEN, E., STIB L., Bronen, R. A., Mazure, C., Capelli, S., McCarthy, G., Innis, R. B., and Charney, D. S. Magnetic resonance imaging-based measurement of hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood physical and sexual abuse—A preliminary report. Biological Psychiatry (1997) 41:23-32.
4. Charney, D. S., Deutch, A. Y., Krystal, J. H., Southwick, S. M., and Davis, M. Psychobiologic mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry (1993) 50:294-305.
5. Comings, D. E., Muhleman, D., and Gysin, R. Dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene and susceptibility to posttraumatic stress disorder: A study and replication. Biological Psychiatry (1996) 40:368-72.
6. Crow, T. A Darwinian approach to the origins of psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry (1995) 167:12-25.
7. Darwin, C. The Origin of Species. Penguin Books, 1985.
8. Dawkins, R. The Selfish Gene. Granada Publishing, 1976.
9. Dennett, D. C. Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life. Simon and Schuster, 1995.
10. Foa, E. B., Steketee, G., and Rothbaum, B. O. Behavioural/cognitive conceptualizations of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy (1989) 20:155-76.
11. Foa, E. B., Zimbarg, R., and Rothbaum, B. A. Uncontrollability and unpredictability in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: an animal model. Psychological Bulletin (1993) 112:218-38.
12. Gersons, B. P. R., and Carlier, V. E. Post-traumatic stress disorder: the history of a recent concept. British Journal of Psychiatry (1992) 161: 742–8.
13. Gould, S. J., and Lewontin, R. The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: a critique of the adapationist paradigm. Proceedings of the Royal Society London (1979) B205:581-98.
14. Green, B. L. Traumatic stress and disaster: Mental Health effects and factors influencing adaptation. InF. L. Mak and C. C. Nadelson, eds., International Review of Psychiatry (pp. 177–210). American Psychiatric Press, 1996.
15. Hebb, D. O. Organization of Behavior. Wiley, 1949.
16. Hinde, R., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. Perspectives on attachment. In C. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, and P. Marris, eds., Attachment Across the Life Cycle (pp. 52–65). Routledge, 1991.
17. Holloway, R. L. Toward a synthetic theory of human brain evolution. In J-P. Changeux and J. Chavail-lon, eds., Origins of the Human Brain (pp. 42–54). Clarendon Press, 1995.
18. Horowitz, M. J. Stress-response syndromes: A review of posttraumatic stress and adjustment disorders. In J. Wilson and B. Raphael, eds., International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes (pp. 49–60). Plenum Press, 1993.
19. Janoff Bulman, R. The aftermath of victimization: rebuilding shattered assumptions. In C. R. Figley, ed., Trauma and Its Wake, the Study and Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (pp. 15–36). Brunner Mazel, 1985.
20. Keane, T. M. Post-traumatic stress disorder: Current status and future directions. Behavior Research and Therapy (1989) 20:149-53.
21. Kolb, L. C. A neuropsychological hypothesis explaining post-traumatic stress disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry (1987) 144:989-95.
22. Kolb, B„ and WHISHAW, LQ, Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, 3rd ed. Freeman, 1990.
23. Krystal, H. Trauma and effect. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (1978) 33:81-116.
24. Langs, R. Psychoanalysis and the science of evolution. American Journal of Psychotherapy (1995) 49:47-58.
25. LeDoux, J. E. Emotion, memory and the brain. Scientific American (1994) 270(6):32-9.
26. Lifton, R. J. Understanding the traumatized self: Imagery symbolization and transformation. In J. P. Wilson, Z. Harel, and B. Kahana, eds., Human Adaptation to Extreme Stress from the Holocaust to Vietnam (pp. 7–32). Plenum Press, 1988.
27. Maclean, P. D., and Triune, A. Concept of Brain and Behaviour. University of Toronto Press, 1973.
28. Marks, I. Learning of fear. In Fears, Phobias and Rituals (pp. 228–78). Oxford University Press, 1987.
29. Maynard Smith, J. Genes, memes, and minds. New York Review of Books, November 30, 1995, 46–8.
30. McEwan, B. S., Gould, E. A., and Sakai, R. R. The vulnerability of the hippocampus to protective and destructive effects of glucocorticoids in relation to stress. British Journal of Psychiatry (1992) 160: 18–24.
31. McFarlane, A. C. Avoidance and intrusion in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (1992) 180:439-45.
32. McFarlane, A. C. Individual psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America (1994) 17: 339–408.
33. Millar, T. P. Schizophrenia: An etiological speculation. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (1987) 30:597-607.
34. Milton, R. The Facts of Life: Shattering the Myths of Darwinism. Corgi Books, 1993.
35. Nesse, R. M. An evolutionary perspective on panic disorder and agoraphobia. Ethology and Sociobiology (1987) 8:73S-83S.
36. Nesse, R. M., and Williams, G. C. Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. Vintage Books, 1995.
37. Pinker, S. Evolutionary psychology: An exchange. New York Review of Books (letter to the editor) (1997) 15:55-6.
38. Randall, P. L. Schizophrenia, abnormal connection, and brain evolution. Medical Hypotheses (1983) 10: 247–80.
39. Rauch, S. L., van der Kolk, B. A., Fisler, R. E., Alpert, N. M., Orr, S. P., Savage, C. R., Fischman, A. J., Jenike, M. A., and Pitman, R. K. A symptom provocation study of posttraumatic stress disorder using positron emission tomography and script-driven imagery. Archives of General Psychiatry (1996) 53:380-7.
40. Shalev, A. Y., Galai, T., and Eth, S. Levels of trauma: A multidimensional approach to the treatment of PTSD. Psychiatry (1993) 56:166-77.
41. Silove, D., Manicavasagar, V., O’Connell, D., and Morris-Yates, A. Genetic factors in early separation anxiety: implications for the genesis of adult anxiety disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (1995) 92:17-24.
42. Solomon, S. D., and Canino, G. J. Appropriateness of DSM-III-R criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry (1990) 31:22737.
43. True, W. R., Rice, J., Eisen, S. A., Heath, A. C., Goldberg, J., Lyons, M. J., and Nowak, J. A twin study of genetic and environmental contributions to liability for posttraumatic stress symptoms. Archives of General Psychiatry (1993) 50(4):257-64.
44. van der Kolk, B., Greenberg, M., Boyd, H., and Krystal, J. H. Inescapable shock, neurotransmitter and addiction to trauma: Towards a psychobiology of post traumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry (1985) 22:314-25.
45. van der Kolk, B. A., and Saporta, J. Biological Response to Psychic Trauma. In J. Wilson and B. Raphael, eds., International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes (pp. 25–33). Plenum Press, 1993.
46. Wieland, S., Boren, J. L., Consroe, P. F., and Martin, A. Stock differences in the susceptibility of rats in learned helplessness training. Life Science (1986) 39:937-44.
47. Williams, G. C., and Nesse, R. M. The dawn of Darwinian medicine. Quarterly Review of Biology (1991) 66:1-22.
48. Wilson, E. O. On Human Nature. Penguin Books, 1995.
49. Wilson, J. P. The need for an integrative theory of post-traumatic stress disorder. In M. B. Williams, and J. F. Sommer, eds., Handbook of Post-Traumatic Therapy (pp. 3–18). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
50. Yehuda, R., and McFarlane, A. C. Conflict between current knowledge about posttraumatic stress disorder and its original conceptual basis. American Journal of Psychiatry (1995) 152:1705-13.
51. Zerbe, K. J. Anxiety disorder in women. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic (1995) 59 (Suppl. A):A38-A52.