Computational Psychiatry : A Systems Biology Approach to the Epigenetics of Mental Disorders

This book explores mental disorders from a uniquely evolutionary perspective. Although there have been many attempts to mathematically model neural processes and, to some extent, their dysfunction, there is very little literature that models mental function within a sociocultural, socioeconomic, and environmental context. Addressing this gap in the extant literature, this book explores essential aspects of mental disorders, recognizing the ubiquitous role played by the exaptation of crosstalk between cognitive modules at many different scales and levels of organization, the missing heritability of complex diseases, and cultural epigenetics. Further, it introduces readers to valuable control theory tools that permit the exploration of the environmental induction of neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as the study of the synergism between culture, psychopathology and sleep disorders, offering a distinctively unique resource. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Consciousness, Crosstalk, and the Mereological Fallacy....Pages 1-35 Cultural Epigenetics: On the Missing Heritability of Complex Diseases....Pages 37-70 Western Atomism and Its Culture-Bound Syndromes....Pages 71-88 Environmental Induction of Neurodevelopmental Disorders....Pages 89-104 Sleep, Psychopathology, and Culture....Pages 105-128 Embodied Cognition and Its Disorders....Pages 129-152 Tools for the Future: Hidden Symmetries....Pages 153-165 Psychopathologies of Automata I: Autonomous Vehicle Systems....Pages 167-190 Psychopathologies of Automata II: Autonomous Weapons and Centaur Systems....Pages 191-200 The Dynamics of Environmental Insult....Pages 201-208 Social Psychopathology: Military Doctrine and the Madness of Crowds....Pages 209-219 Mathematical Appendix....Pages 221-233 Back Matter....Pages 235-236