Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness
Contents
Part I What Is Mental Illness? An Epigenetic Model
1.2 Gene-Environment Interaction and Brain Morphology
and Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Gene–Environment Interaction: Serotonin Transporter
Gene as anExemplar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Emerging Model of Mental Illness: Gene
× Meme Interaction 7References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 How Does Stress Work? The Role of Memes in Epigenesis
. . . . . 112.1 Stress,Aging, and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Stress,Memes, and the Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Role of Stress and Nurturing in Development: Epigenesis . . . 15
2.4 Environment Changes Epigenome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.5 Memes and Epigenesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.6 Stress Awakens Dormant Memes Resulting in Mental Illness . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.1 Culture and Presenting Symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2 Culture-Specific Psychiatric Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3 Enculturation and Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 Memes for Being Ill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4 Genetic–Memetic Model of Mental Illness – Migration
and Natural Disasters as Illustrations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.1 Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2 Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Part II Evolution and Mental Health: Genes, Memes,
Culture, and the Individual
5 What Do We Inherit from Our Parents and Ancestors?
. . . . . . . 375.1 Like Parent, Like Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 How Does Culture Affect Behavior? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.3 Memes and Cultural Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.4 Memeplexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416.1 Human Genes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.2 Mendelian Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.3 Genes and Mutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.4 Sex-Linked Genes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.5 Polygenic Inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.6 How Do Genes Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517.1 In the Beginning
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517.2 In a Changing, Hostile World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.3 The Selfish Gene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.4 Wonderful Random Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.5 Wonderful Invention of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.6 Darwin and Natural Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.7 Somatic Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.8 Universal Darwinism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8 Learning, Imitation, and Memes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838.1 Evolution of Complex Organisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.2 Trial and Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.3 Learn or Perish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.4 Imitation, Shortcut to Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.5 Coevolution of the Brain and Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.6 Empathy and Mirror Neuron System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.7 Meme Generation and Meme Infection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.8 What Is a Meme? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9 Storage and Evolution of Memes in the Brain
. . . . . . . . . . . . 959.1 Storage of Memes as Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.1.1 Implicit Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9.1.2 Explicit Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.3 Learned Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
9.1.4 Learning Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.1.5 Working Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
9.2 Evolution of Memes in the Brain and the Brain Code . . . . . 103
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10 External Storage of Memes: Culture, Media, Cyberspace
. . . . . . 10910.1 Niche Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
10.2 How Memes Jump Brains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10.3 Communication and Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.4 Memes as a Paradigm Shift in Evolution
and Extraterrestrial Diffusion of Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.5 Cyberspace and Extracerebral Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.6 Implication of Liberation of Memes from Brains . . . . . . . . 116
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11911.1 Culture as Memetic Niches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.2 Individual Brain in a Petri Dish of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.3 Memes, Culture, and Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
11.4 Dominant and Nondominant Memes in Cultures,
Zeitgeist, Devious Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
11.5 Pathologic Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
11.5.1 Memes That Inhibit or Attenuate the Brain’s
Executive (Ego) Function: Tradition and Prejudice . 124
11.5.2 Memes That Are Devious, Entering Under
False Pretenses, Then Causing Disease or Destruction 124
11.5.3 Memes that Replicate
Virulently, Often Bypassingthe Executive Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
11.5.4 Memes that Are Virulent Because They
Arouse Passion, Bypassing Executive Function . . . 125
11.5.5 Memes that Cause an Indolent Infection,
to Become Virulent Later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
11.6 Protective Memes and the Placebo Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
11.7 How Memes Come in Under the Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
11.8 Spread of Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
11.9 Internal Processing of Memes and Consciousness:
Thinking as Meme Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
11.10 Free Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11.11 The Unconscious, Collective Unconscious, Freudian
Unconscious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
11.12 Selfplex and the Shadow: We Are All Multiple Personalities . 134
11.13 Transcendence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
11.14 The Individual as a Pawn in the War of Memes . . . . . . . . 137
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
12.1 Normality and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
12.2 Gene
×Meme Interaction and Mental Health . . . . . . . . . 14312.3 Neurobiology of Pleasure, Punishment, and Inhibition . . . . . 144
12.4 Mental Health: A Democracy of Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15513.1 Unhappiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
13.2 Memes and Mental Illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
13.3 Culture and Mental Illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
13.4 Mental Illness and Psychiatric Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . 159
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Part III Principles of Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Illness
14 Psychiatric Diagnosis: Toward
a Memetic–Epigenetic Multiaxial Model
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16514.1 Psychiatric Diagnosis and Problems with DSM . . . . . . . . 165
14.2 What Is Diagnosis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
14.3 Psychiatric Diagnosis: Dysregulation and Final
Common Pathway Syndromes, Resurrection of Neurosis . . . 169
14.4 Proposal for a New DSM Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
14.4.1 Axis I: Memetic/Phenomenological
(Neurophysiomemetic) Diagnosis:
Psychiatric Syndromes, Symptoms,
and Traits, Based on Deviations of Normal
Brain Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
14.4.2 Axis II: Geno-Neuroscience Diagnosis:
Genes (Including Family History of
Psychiatric Illness), Brain Morphology,
Biochemistry and Pathology, Functional
Changes and Conditions Potentially
Influencing Axis I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
14.4.3 Axis III:Medical Diseases and Conditions . . . . . 173
14.4.4 Axis IV: Stresses: Childhood, Recent, and Current . 173
14.4.5 Axis V: Psychosocial Assets and
Recent/Current Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
14.4.6 Axis VI: Biopsychosocial and Epigenetic Formulation 174
14.5 An IllustrativeCase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
15 Memetic Diagnosis, Memetic Assessment
and Biopsychosocial Epigenetic Formulation
. . . . . . . . . . . . 18115.1 Memetic Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
15.2 Memetic Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
15.3 ConsciousMemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
15.4 Unconscious Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
15.5 Priming Factors and Role Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
15.6 The Need for New Memetic Diagnostic Tools . . . . . . . . . 184
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
16 Principles of Memetic Therapy
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18716.1 Blocking the Entrance and Induction of Pathogenic Memes . . 187
16.2 Treating Memes in the Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
16.2.1 Identifying Pathogenic Memes and
Memeplex Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
16.2.2 Identifying Capsules and Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . 189
16.2.3 Neutralizing Capsules and Vehicles . . . . . . . . . 190
16.2.4 Deconstructing and Suppressing Memes . . . . . . . 191
16.2.5 Augmenting Protective Memes . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
16.3 Conventional Meme–Directed Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
16.4 Need for Novel Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
17 Broad-Spectrum Memetic Therapies
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19517.1 What is Broad-Spectrum Meme-Oriented Therapy? . . . . . . 195
17.2 Sleep, Sedation, and Electroconvulsive Therapy . . . . . . . . 196
17.3 Relaxation and Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
17.4 Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
17.5 Music and Dance Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
17.6 Massage Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
17.7 Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
17.8 Bibliotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20318.1 Psychotherapies as Memetic Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
18.2 Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy
(DBT), Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy (CBT),
Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT),
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
18.3 Psychodynamic Psychotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
18.4 Toward a United, Integrated Memetic Concept
of Psychotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
18.5 Need for New Meme-Literate Psychotherapies . . . . . . . . . 209
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21319.1 Epigenesis in Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
19.2 Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulnerable Children . . . . 214
19.3 Early Protection from Pathogenic Memes . . . . . . . . . . . 215
19.4 Vaccination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
19.5 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
19.6 Gene–Meme Cooperation vs. Gene–Meme Conflict:
“Mind” and “Body” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Part IV Specific Psychiatric Syndromes
20 Overview of Specific Syndromes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22320.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
20.2 Gene–Meme Symbiosis and Mental Illness . . . . . . . . . . . 224
20.3 Toward a Dimensional Approach in Identifying
and Treating Mental Illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
21 Attention-Cognition Spectrum Syndromes: Delirium,
Dementia, Impulse Control Syndromes, ADHD, Antisocial
Personality, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Traits,
Obsessive-Compulsive Syndrome
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22921.1 Gene
× Meme Interaction, Evolutionary Adaptation,and Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
21.1.1 Global Dysregulation of Meme Processing:
DeliriumandDementia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
21.1.2 Dysregulation of Infrastructure for Meme
Processing: Attention-Deficit Disorder
(ADHD), Impulse and Aggression
Dyscontrol, Antisocial Personality . . . . . . . . . . 231
21.1.3 Dysregulation of Meme-Processing Loop:
Preoccupations, Obsessions, Compulsions . . . . . . 232
21.2 Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
22 Anxiety-Mood Spectrum Syndromes: Anxiety,
Panic, Phobias, ASD, PTSD, Borderline Syndrome,
Dependent and Avoidant Personalities, Social
Phobia, Bipolarity and Mania, Depression – Neurotic
and Syndromic, Adjustment Disorders
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23722.1 Gene
× Meme Interaction, Evolutionary Adaptation,and Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
22.1.1 Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
22.1.2 Panic Syndrome and Agoraphobia . . . . . . . . . . 239
22.1.3 Specific Phobias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
22.1.4 Acute Stress and Posttraumatic Stress Syndromes . . 240
22.1.5 Borderline Syndrome and Traits . . . . . . . . . . . 240
22.1.6 Dependent Personality Traits and Syndrome . . . . . 241
22.1.7 Avoidant Personality Traits and Syndrome,
Social Phobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
22.1.8 BipolarityandMania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
22.1.9 Depression – Neurotic and Major Depressive
Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
22.1.10 AdjustmentDisorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
22.2 Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
22.2.1 Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
22.2.2 Mild Symptoms (Problems of Living
andAdjustmentReactions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
22.2.3 Neurosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
22.2.4 Major Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
23 Reality Perception Spectrum Syndromes (Imagination,
Dissociation, Conversion, Somatoform, Misattribution
Somatization, Psychosis)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24923.1 Gene
× Meme Interaction and Evolutionary Adaptation . . . . 24923.1.1 Imagination andDreaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
23.1.2 Dissociation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
23.1.3 Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID,
Multiple Personality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
23.1.4 Misattribution Syndromes: Conversion,
Somatization, Hypochondriasis, Chronic
Pain (SomatoformDisorders) . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
23.1.5 Psychosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
23.1.6 Schizophrenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
23.2 Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
23.2.1 Mild Dissociative Symptoms, Dissociation
in Borderline Syndrome, PTSD . . . . . . . . . . . 256
23.2.2 Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID,
Multiple Personality Syndrome) . . . . . . . . . . . 256
23.2.3 Misattribution Syndromes: Conversion,
Somatization, Hypochondriasis, Chronic
Pain,Fibromyalgia, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
23.2.4 Psychosis and Schizophrenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
24 Pleasure Spectrum Syndromes (Substance Use/Abuse,
Addictions to Substances and Beliefs, Fanaticism)
. . . . . . . . . . 26124.1 Gene
× Meme Interaction, Evolutionary Adaptation,and Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
24.1.1 Substance Use/Abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
24.1.2 Addictions to Substances and Beliefs, Fanaticism . . 264
24.2 Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
25 Primary Memetic Syndromes: Eating Disorders, Factitious
Disorders, Malingering, Meme-Directed Destructive Behaviors
. . 26725.1 Gene
× Meme Interaction, Evolutionary Adaptation,and Syndromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
25.1.1 EatingDisorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
25.1.2 Destructive Meme Infections and Epidemics:
Mass Hysteria, Factitious Illness, Suicide,
Suicide Bombing, Aggression . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
25.1.3 Irrational Beliefs and Delusions . . . . . . . . . . . 270
25.2 Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27526.1 Genes and Memes – How to Achieve a Peaceful Coexistence . 275
26.2 Need for New Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches
and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
26.3 Testable Hypotheses of Gene
× Meme × EnvironmentInteraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
26.4 Memes, Social Sciences, and Neuroscience . . . . . . . . . . 277
26.5 Ethical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
26.6 Post-humanEvolution ofMemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Index
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281