McCauley Honorary | Bryon Cunningham, "Evolution, Mood Disorders, and Religious Coping: Interactions Between Explanatory and Interpretive Theories in Clinical Practice"

Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture

Bryon Cunningham | Psychology, Occidental College
"Evolution, Mood Disorders, and Religious Coping: Interactions Between Explanatory and Interpretive Theories in Clinical Practice"

In this talk, I advocate for the view that explanatory and interpretive theories can be mutually enriching in clinical practice. I start with the ecumenical view that the theoretical frameworks of evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory are both crucial for explaining human similarities and differences. I propose that developmental adaptations play an important role in understanding how the expression of human instincts is mediated by developmental contingencies. I construct a multi-dimensional conceptualization of mood variation and consider evidence from the emerging field of evolutionary psychopathology that mood variability is a biological adaptation. Next, I review the empirical research demonstrating the moderating effects of religious coping on mood disorders and on health more generally, and I offer some conjectures about ways in which mood variation may contribute to religious credibility-enhancing displays. Lastly, I explore a number of ways that explanatory and interpretive theories interact in clinical practice with patients with mood disorders and those who utilize religious coping.