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Melatonin, Neuroprotective Agents and Antidepressant Therapy pp 335–346Cite as

Understanding the Biologically Adaptive Side of Mood Disorders: A Focus on Affective Temperaments

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Abstract

There is an expanding interest in the evolutionary aspects of psychiatric illnesses including affective disorders in an effort to understand why these conditions, which carry a disadvantage in terms of reproduction and adaptation, or why their frequency does not show a decrease from generation to generation and how these conditions do not tend gradually to disappear. Each of the affective phases has several advantageous characteristics enhancing fitness and adaptation as do affective disorders as well. However, mood disorders are complex and multifaceted which have a polygenic and multifactorial background; therefore decomposing them into more atomic characteristics aids the separation and better understanding of their adaptive aspects. Approaching affective illness from the aspect of affective temperaments helps this decomposition and also the understanding of how pathological symptoms may have their roots in adaptation to environmental and also social challenges. Such a perspective on affective disorders helps not only their better understanding, but also promises a differential approach to prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, as well as reducing the stigma associated with these mental illnesses.

Xenia Gonda is a recipient of the Janos Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    Xenia Gonda

  2. Laboratory of Suicide Research and Prevention, National Institute for Psychiatry and Addictology, Budapest, Hungary

    Xenia Gonda

  3. International Consortium for Bipolar and Psychotic Disorder Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

    Gustavo H. Vazquez

  4. Department of Neuroscience, Palermo University, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gustavo H. Vazquez

Authors
  1. Xenia Gonda
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  2. Gustavo H. Vazquez
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Correspondence to Xenia Gonda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vice-Rectorate for Research and Sci, Camilo José Cela University Vice-Rectorate for Research and Sci, Madrid, Spain

    Francisco López-Muñoz

  2. International Medical Sciences Research Study Center, Sri Sathya Sai Medical Educational & Research Foundation, Coimbatore, India

    Venkataramanujam Srinivasan

  3. Department of Neurosciences and Ima, University of Chieti Department of Neurosciences and Ima, Italy, Italy

    Domenico de Berardis

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences (Pharmacology Area), University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain

    Cecilio Álamo

  5. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Takahiro A. Kato

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Gonda, X., Vazquez, G.H. (2016). Understanding the Biologically Adaptive Side of Mood Disorders: A Focus on Affective Temperaments. In: López-Muñoz, F., Srinivasan, V., de Berardis, D., Álamo, C., Kato, T. (eds) Melatonin, Neuroprotective Agents and Antidepressant Therapy. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2803-5_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2803-5_23

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