It takes a village to raise a child: how evolutionary anthropology can inform perinatal psychiatry
A significant minority of women experience perinatal depressive or anxiety disorders, perhaps because mothers now attempt in isolation a role humans evolved to perform collectively. We argue that this evolutionary mismatch may be one contributing factor, complementing their multifactorial, biopsychosocial aetiology. We outline clinical, service and policy implications.
Authors
- Bosky Nair
- Annie Swanepoel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7074-5978)
- Nikhil Chaudhary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7528-8529)
Institutions
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- North East London NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2026-10-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2026.10870
- Primary Topic
- Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00