Foundation for Evolution and Mental Health
Forwarding the understanding of mental health and disorder through the lens of evolutionary theory
In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation.Charles DarwinThe Origin of Species (1859, p. 488)
Why do so many of us show these cognitive differences, experience these emotional states – why did we not evolve to be perfectly mentally healthy?
This is not our natural environment
This is our natural environment
The inherited tendencies to develop mental disorders are common enough to have existed in every ancestral tribe.
They arise in the peak of youth.
Often they associate with particular aptitudes.
These are not the signs of simple disease.
Decades of effort and billions of dollars have been spent on biomedical research, with no real progress.
But research is not translating into impact…
Pathology has not been found, and people have not been helped.
“Whatever we’ve been doing for five decades, it ain’t working … with no validated biomarkers and too little in the way of novel medical treatments since 1980... it is time to rethink mental disorders”Thomas Insel2002–2015 National Institute of Mental Health Director. Thomas Insel oversaw 20 billion dollars of funding between 2002–2015.
It’s time for a new approach, with an old theory.
Evolutionary scientists have been developing critical explanatory theory of biological form for over a century. Researchers are just beginning to apply that theory to the problems of the mind.
Interventions and Treatment
Evolution-informed therapy, personalized accommodations in classrooms and workplaces, and clear insights for sub-typing and treating various mental health conditions.
Understanding and Explanation
Research on potential strengths in diagnoses, subclinical traits, and minimal-symptom cases. Examine diverse societies in transition and test ‘mismatch’ ideas.
Education
Cutting-edge resources for clinicians and scientists, inspiring insights for patients and families, and practical, evolution-informed guidance for educators, employers, and the public.
Before Evolution: The State of Mental Health
The report walks through eleven sections, covering the mental health crisis, the gap in education, the state of psychotherapy and pharmacology, the limits of contemporary neuroscience and genetics, environmental factors and mismatch, the potential to inform workplace, school and community interventions and the state of the field in terms of progress and institutions. Each section ends with concrete, evolution-informed recommendations.
The headline message is that the intellectual work needed to respond to this crisis has, to a remarkable degree, already been done. The fruit in the tree of evolution is hanging low for picking.
Interviews and a trailer from our YouTube channel
A series of filmed interviews with leading members of our advisory board and founding team, as well as an edited trailer to introduce the field.
Your support has the potential to catalyse a paradigm shift in how we understand and address mental health challenges globally.
Larger philanthropic goals? As a founding patron of the field, you could play a pivotal role, felt for generations. If you’d like to start a discussion about how to create large and lasting impact, contact us at contact@femh.foundation.
Donate Now
The Foundation is currently entirely volunteer run with minimal overheads.
- FEMH is Gift Aid certified, meaning eligible UK donations from UK taxpayers receive a 25% boost from the UK government.
- For significant donations, it is often possible to arrange for overseas donors to receive tax benefits via their national charitable donation system e.g. US donors will be able to make donations to a 501(c)(3). Please contact FEMH directly to arrange this.