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Evolutionary psychology defines psychological Trauma as a “response to events or circumstances that thwart the achievement of biological goals … the more important the adaptive goal the more painful is the emotional impact” that can have positive or negative effects. Trauma research is approached as stemming from stressors. Evolutionary psychology does not distinguish among types of stressors and defines them globally as “any life event that interferes with the achievement of short–term biological goals.” This article will briefly address DSM-V definitions of Trauma, the role of biological goals in Evolutionary psychology theory, potential adaptive functions of Trauma, why Trauma may be maladaptive at times, and possible future directions in related research.

Other definitions
The DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) includes a chapter classifying trauma and stressor-related disorders. One of the criteria for these disorders is for the patient to have had “exposure to a traumatic or stressful event.” Following it classifies traumatic stressors as “any event that may cause or threaten death, serious injury, or sexual violence to an individual, a close family member, or a close friend."  The lay use and definition of Trauma is “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience” (dictionary).

Prioritizing biological goals
The human species, along with other mammals, are characterized by having “behavioral plasticity and flexibility that favored a natural selection or an evolution of a complex pain and pleasure systems to guide behavioral choices." For example, when a toddler touches fire or a hot stove, pain signals cause an almost immediate recoil of their hand. The painful physical experience becomes a memory to then avoid repeating the painful experience, pain, and pleasure memories to guide future behavior and experiences. Emotional joy and suffering serve similar purposes as the latter is strongly associated with Trauma because “stressful life events are (or were in the ancestral environment) with threats to attaining biological adaptation."

Initially, researchers were inclined to an objective approach that assumed all humans, regardless of sex or culture, would prioritize biological goals (matting, survival, offspring investment) the same. This, in turn, would imply that all individuals would also rank stressors the same. Under this approach, a mother and father should equally rank and be affected by the death of an infant child. This is not the case, as has been demonstrated in several studies where 25-30% of mothers show clinical depression, whereas fathers only show 4-10%.

An opposite approach, the idiographic approach, assumes that everyone is unique and thus does not allow us to make generalizations. Without generalizations, it is hard for clinicians to build past research and improve diagnostic and treatment efforts. Under a strict idiographic approach, a clinician could not use past experiences with other patients to help a new patient and would have to start from zero. Each individual is unique on various levels; however, an evolutionary approach allows us to theorize generalizations. The evolutionary perspective consolidates the objective and idiographic approach by generalizing that avoiding death is the goal that all humans strive for and thus would be ranked as the highest stressor when compared to belonging to a social network. Social networks are essential in all human societies; however, its perceived and ranked importance can vary by a group within a culture or at an individual level.

Life History and sexual selection theory
Life history and sexual selection theory are examples of evolutionary sub-theories that help us understand the variance of biological goals across different age groups and between sexes. Life history theory helps us understand how organisms invest resources, taking an adaptationist approach, and considering developmental constraints. Species that spend more towards mating efforts and less so to offspring rearing have a fast life history strategy. Those that invest more in offspring rearing than in matting take a slow life history strategy as do humans. However, within the human species, there is a variation with some taking a slower or faster strategy comparatively and the strategy changing overtime. For example, young men may take on a faster life history strategy and shift towards a slower one as they age.

“Sexual selection is the type of natural selection that favors traits that aid in obtaining mates and operating through multiple mechanisms." This theory helps us understand behavioral gender differences in mate selection. Women’s higher investment of resources towards their offspring in pregnancy and lactation should favor toward higher selectivity of a mate. When a child dies in the early stages of pregnancy or post-partum sexual selection theory can help us understand why more women report clinical depression. Women have invested a higher amount of resources than their male counterparts. Thus it would have a more substantial emotional impact that reflects the higher biological prioritization that offspring was for women than men. Life history theory and sexual selection theory combined help to elucidate why goal priorities differ between sexes and across age groups.

Clinical data example
Kendler and Gardner conducted a study with 1057 opposite-sex dizygotic twins recording their stressful events in the year before the survey. They found that women who reported depression or stressors that profoundly impacted their life stemmed from interpersonal difficulties. These ranged from rejection or inability to achieve a certain level of intimacy with their social networks. Men’s stressors related to a perceived lack of achievements in their employment, financial, or legal problems. Women attribute a greater sense of self and self-worth to their social networks, interpersonal relationships within these, and their emotional investment with these members that adversely makes them more sensitive to adversities experienced by members of their networks. On the other hand, men are affected by their perceived occupational and financial success or lack thereof.

Adaptive responses
Traits are typically categorized into two categories, adaptive meaning that the quality is beneficial and helps the organism attain biological goals or maladaptive purpose that it hinders the organism’s ability to reach desired goals. Examples of adaptive traits are coughing or vomiting; both are mechanisms that allow our bodies to expulse foreign matter or toxins that may threaten our lives. A coma, seizures, or paralysis, however, do not have an apparent benefit for humans and rather can jeopardize our lives.

Trauma as an adaptive mechanism
From an evolutionary perspective, Trauma is a response to extreme stressors that humans have inherited that presently can have positive or adverse effects. The outcome of Trauma is thought to be related to various factors, including genetics, individual experience, and sociocultural conditions. There are three linked adaptive outcomes. The first pertains to a greater sense of self and self-reliance when confronting challenges. The second revolves around relationships with others in your social network. The changes can build on existing social groups by drawing closer relationships, reconciling, increased sensitivity towards others, and willingness to accept help. Changes can also involve selective severing of social ties in efforts to prevent abusive relationships. The third outcome is a more integrated philosophy of life that opens to a greater appreciation of life and change in priorities or perception of reality.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the disorders that can result from a traumatic event. PTSD’s symptomatology can be adaptive. A person experiencing hypervigilance immediately after a traumatic experience is more likely to avoid being in the same situation. Constant re-stimulation or replaying of the event helps the person to learn from the experience and formulate a plan of action lest they experience a similar threat. Finally, emotional disassociation from the event allows the person to separate emotional(fast) and cognitive(slow) responses from the scenario. Three main processes can then help understand PTSD. First, iterative learning where “neural networks learn by modifying their internal structure during the integration of novel information." Second, the pruning of neural connections with the formation of new bonds. Third, a top-down activation where “dominant inflexible networks prime or bias brain activity toward stimuli relevant to certain memories." These processes suggest that PTSD can facilitate the transformation of the cognitive schema of the world view and, thus, the emergence of new cultural paradigms.

The above outlined adaptive traits of trauma result only when the Trauma is resolved through correct mechanisms.

Maladaptive
Maladaptive outcomes resulting from Trauma include severe dissociation, intrusive re-stimulations, extreme avoidance, severe hyperarousal, anxiety, depression, and problematic substance abuse. There are three main theories as to why Trauma can result in maladaptive outcomes. First is when rational and prerational (quick emotional) response mechanisms clash. An example to illustrate this taken from Le Doux is a person coming across a long thin object on the ground. A “low road,” recreational, or quick emotional reaction is to assume the object is a snake. The “high road,” rational, or slow response would be to compare the object to other thin objects factoring in context and conclude that the object is not harmful such as a rubber snake. If these two response mechanisms lack communication or if one dominates the other, it may cause the person to become vulnerable and develop maladaptive responses to traumatic events.

A second theory deviating from the first one pertains to existing systemic dysfunctions. These can range from genetic predisposition to a chemical or hormonal environment present at the time of Trauma that does not allow the body to respond as it typically would to such an event. Interruption of the mechanism can lead to a prolonged pathology that, in turn, can result in damage to the biology.

The third theory is that there is a dissonance between our current environment and our ancestral environment where trauma response mechanisms evolved. This mismatch causes a response that was once adaptive to now be maladaptive in the new environment. Our sociocultural systems are constantly undergoing rapid changes with new stressors, and our biological systems cannot evolve at a comparable rate.

Future directions
Academics and clinicians alike have contributed vast amounts of research and theoretical approaches to Trauma and other mental conditions. Each discipline offers valuable insights. Trauma, however, is something caused by and affects a person’s biology, psychology, social environment; thus, to continue to make advances at a greater understanding and possibly effective treatment, we must combine all of these approaches. We can achieve this by continuing to form research groups with interdisciplinary team members.

Future research focusing on treatments (drug and non-drug) that help to mimic our evolved biological trauma response rather than suppress symptoms can help reduce recovery times and help direct towards positive meta-learning outcomes. As research has shown that the social environment is one of the components that cause Trauma, treatments should also include elements to address social problems and not just the biological ones. Otherwise, as Syme and Hagen point out, “it would be unethical to provide pain medication without also setting the broken bone. Similarly, it is unethical to suppress the psychic pain without addressing the source of adversity."