Great content and well-organized. However, the book is not very approachable to the average person. The author uses overly complicated vocabulary which makes it harder to read. However, his premise is well-supported and his ideas are worth contemplating.
I received a free digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

“This book is an attempt to explain some of the phylogenetic mechanisms that brought about in humans the innate liability of developing varied forms of dysfunctional or maladaptive behavior, the graver of which are categorized as mental disorders.” The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior. (Fuchs, 2019, LOC 104).

Prescient

Please note, if you are not a psychiatric professional read the summary and then go to the Synopsis and take a look at the diagram I have provided for your understanding. If you are a mental heath professional please read on.

Author’s Bio

Dr. Ivan Fuchs is the author of The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior. Dr. Fuchs retired after 3 decades of experience gained from working as a Practitioner of Clinical Psychiatry. Originally from Hungary, Dr. Fuchs emigrated to Israel early in his career where he currently resides today with his family.

“In my opinion, these mechanisms, or more exactly, their extreme poles on a diversified scale (as a result of relaxation of natural selective pressures), constitute the inherited foundations of most common mental disorders.” (Fuchs, 2019, LOC 209).

Who is the audience for this textbook?

Dr. Ivan Fuchs forms a thesis in The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior. Dr. Fuchs based his theory on his extensive professional experience; principally psychiatry, knowledge of biology, genetics, and primatology. Dr. Fuchs thesis is not peer reviewed or published in any professional scientific journals. Dr. Fuchs expresses doubt that this publication will have broad appeal and he believes that it will fall into a narrow niche’ primarily for medical professionals. Those most likely to benefit from reading Dr. Fuchs theory would be: Professional Mental Health Clinicians and Researchers; Research Fellows, Students of Psychological Medicine; Researchers of Psychiatric Medicine; Students of Psychiatry, and Clinical Psychiatrists interested in this evolving subject.

Synopsis

Due to the complexity of the Fuchs theory and the myriad of related co-dependencies, I have chosen to focus on the key concepts of his treaty. I’ve done this in order to minimize extraneous issues and to simplify the review to enhance understanding for the reader.

In brief, the author of The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior posits that there are two separate and distinct Natural Selection Pressures that have influenced human development over Phylogenetic Period. The Selective Pressures are the Active and Reactive Mechanisms of Mental Disorders.

Natural Selection Pressures

1. Active Mechanisms of Mental Disorders

Consisting of three key mechanisms; these are as follows:

1. Natural Selection Pressures
2. Intra-group Natural Selection Pressures (IGNSP’s)
3. Late Stage of Human Evolution Pressures; Post Agricultural Revolution 10,000 years ago.

2. Reactive Mechanisms

4. Relaxation from Natural Selective Pressures due to genetically diverse factors including but not exclusive to: Cross cultural breeding, advances in democracy, proliferation of technology, and interbreeding.

“This book is an attempt to explain some of the phylogenetic mechanisms that brought about in humans the innate liability of developing varied forms of dysfunctional or maladaptive behavior, the graver of which are categorized as mental disorders.”
The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Functional Behavior. (Fuchs, 2019, LOC 104).

Dr Fuchs volume does not contain any illustrations or models of his theory, so I have created one here to aid the reader in understanding his central concept.

Geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky “It is possible and indeed probable, that occupational differences between human populations usher in some correlated genetic differences” (Dobzhansky, 1962, p. 250). And: “When the environment is highly diversified, as it is in civilized societies, all these genotypes may find suitable opportunities.” (Dobzhansky, 1962, p. 250).

Dr. Fuchs proposes that the relaxation from Sexual Selection Pressures also have influence vis-à-vis the “Good Genes Hypothesis”: (Buss, 2008, pp. 190-191), as well as “minor Marriage” custom of third-world cultures (Wilson, 1998, p. 175), where decisions relating to marriage are not made by the couple, but controlled by some authority figure often for the financial benefit of the bride’s family in the form of a dowry. Dr. Fuchs observes that only humans and some primates share aberrant behaviors and responses to Evolutionary Mechanisms. He also postulates that over time incidences and varieties of mental health disorders have increased in humanity arising from the Reactive Evolutionary Forces.

“To my knowledge no evidence exists that the human genome is changing in any overall direction. The big story in recent human evolution is not directional change, not natural selection at all, but homogenization through immigration and interbreeding. Its main consequence is the gradual erasure of previous racial differences. It also increases the range of individual variations within the population and across the entire species. Many more combinations of skin color, facial features, talents, and other traits influenced by genes, are new arising than ever existed before. Variance increases, the extremes are extended new forms of hereditary genius and pathology are more likely to arise.” (Wilson, 1998, pp. 271-273, emphasis added).

Conclusion

The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior by Dr. Ivan Fuchs is likely to be best received by medical professionals. Due to a combination of the complexity and virgin science nature of the subject, there will likely be limited interest from the laity. The appeal could be increased through the utilization of diagrams, images, lists, tables, and chronology; as well as empirical evidence.

This book is based more on Dr. Fuchs opinion rather than on The Scientific Method. The complete lack of peer review papers, the absence of empirical and other supportive data impedes its worth. However, the theory is an interesting and challenging one. As with many books of its type it provides a very dry read. This dryness could be ameliorated through appropriate use of graphic enhancements. I also noticed a great deal of repetition within the text. The repetition Dr. Fuchs states is an aid to impress elements of his theory in the mind of the reader.

I found the scattered nature of the sections in this book added to the difficulty of understanding the underlying theory. There was a lack of flow that created confusion at times; not due to the subject matter or the jargon but arising out of the jumps across multiple chapters. I found run on sentences and the generally poor use of punctuation and grammar impeded the enjoyment of reading. The combination of writing style, lack of infographics, and poor punctuation made this book a beast to read. Happily, these limitations are easily remedied with the aid of a competent editor. To the editor please include a glossary of medical terms for the uninitiated.

Summary

For the layperson, this book discusses the opinions of Dr. Fuchs. In short, the idea is that in the past humanity and some primates collaborated on the basis of natural selection. This natural selection changed across time from Active to a Relaxation of the forces (pressures) that had earlier shaped humanity. In the later stage (Relaxation Phase) the pressures changed by external factors such as technology and interbreeding. As a result, there is speculated to be an increase in the number and variations of mental health disorders. It is also expected that there will be an increase in the numbers of geniuses and other gifted humans. The concept is interesting and challenges traditional theories. If you are interested in this topic, I would wait for the illustrated and re-edited version.

Suggested Reading

Bake, M. (1998) Darwin’s Black Box: The biochemical challenge to evolution. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Sadock’s comprehensive textbook of psychiatry, 8th Ed., Col. 1 Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-lll) (Fuchs, (2019), LOC 3747). Link to the entire manual: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

P. R Adoriaens &A. De Black (eds.), Maladapting minds: Philosophy, psychiatry, & Evolutionary theory. Oxford. OxfordUniversity Press.

Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1995) The Man Who Mistook his Wife For a Chattel.

Perry, S. (2011). Manipulative monkeys: The capuchins of Lima’s Barbuda. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Acknowledgment

My sincere thanks go to: The Author, NetGalley, and the Publisher, for affording me the opportunity to review of The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior.

Boy was this a tough read. The author uses only 50 cent words when there are plenty of 10 cent words that would suit just as well. You will be consulting the dictionary option quite often. In spite of this huge drawback Chapters 3 & 4 are well worth the effort. You can skip the rest of this book.

Dr. Fuchs has developed a lifelong study of human dysfunctional behavior and has derived some breakthrough conclusions that he presents in The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Functional Behavior. Dr. Fuchs seeks to articulate a reason we have a growing incidence of mental disorders in humans. His premise is that the human population is no longer is driven by the survival of the fittest. He subsequently demonstrates the effect that Relaxation from Natural Selective Pressures (RfNSPs) has on humans and connects these observations to mental disorders.

Dr. Fuchs posits that (RfNSPs) leads to excessive diversification and seeks to show this may lead to an innate predisposition to major mental disorder categories. Dr. Fuchs discusses in-depth four such comprehensive instinctive mechanisms which have been relaxed in humans (I) seasonal fluctuations in life-supporting environmental resources (basic needs are managed in modern society.), (ii) transformations that do not occur (frustrating conditions are managed in modern society.), (iii) easier adaptation (instinct is no longer the driving force in human society.) and (iv) active/reactive behavior dichotomy and interrelationship (excessive human diversity).

In his research, Dr. Fuchs notes that the human evolution literature is integrated around directional selection which studies new adaptive traits and how the selection is stabilized. It is not integrated around how trait's atrophy, alter or disintegrate. This approach works for animals but in humans, it allows for a basic aspect of human evolution to go undiscovered. The work of different disciplines needs to be integrated for people like Dr. Fuchs to build and investigate their theories.

Whenever a book is based on lifelong research and curiosity of a well-qualified person, we can expect that book to include well-drawn conclusions that are important to our needs today. It is also likely a layperson seeking to follow the arguments laid down will have to work hard to understand the material. Dr. Fuchs is such a well-qualified person, and I am such a layperson. I appreciate immensely Dr. Fuchs has written down his knowledge and conclusions and provided background knowledge for serious students.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars because of meticulous research, complete background information, and passion for the subject. I recommend it to medical professionals in diverse fields, serious readers of medical breakthroughs, and lay people with an interest in understanding life. I do not recommend it to people who prefer light reading.

As a psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Ivan Fuchs asks the most basic of questions related to his practice and fields of study on which it is built. It is the question any three-year old asks, "Why?" By posing this basic question, “What happened to natural selection during human phylogeny (i.e., over the course of human evolutionary history),” Fuchs focuses attention on the single element underlying all of psychiatry. He goes beyond description and diagnosis, and prescription and treatment, to the common thread running through the entire spectrum of human maladaptive behaviors—what we call mental illness.

The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior truly ushers in a revolution in the field of mental health. Several aspects make the book revolutionary. First, using evidence from evolutionary biology, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, primatology, and related sciences, he pinpoints the "why" of dysfunctional behavior in the DNA of the human species—it is genetic. Second, with respect to maladaptive behaviors, he distinguishes humans, as a species, from the rest of the animal world, showing them to be the exception to the laws of natural selection. Third, he demonstrates that human dominance of the world is connected to human evolution, humans' ability to control their environment, culture and traditions, and that the leisure afforded by these factors contribute to the tendency toward maladaptive behavior. Fourth, at the heart of his theory, is the proposition that a longstanding relaxation of the pressures of natural selection gave birth to excessive human diversity, which accounts for both the dominance of the human species and the high prevalence of dysfunctional forms of behavior.

Further, what makes the book especially valuable is how it works systematically through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5). Thereby, the book makes the more theoretical aspects of Fuchs's theory and the implications of research in evolutionary biology and related disciplines readily apparent to mental health practitioners.

The comprehensive table of contents (both the abbreviated one in the front matter and the expanded one in the back matter) reveals the comprehensive scope of the work. It starts with a general introduction (chapter 1), then lays out methodological considerations (chapter 2), before setting the discussion within the scientific disciplines affected (chapter 3). The meat of the book is introduced with the survey of the "Relaxation of Natural Selection Pressures" (chapter 4) and rounded out with "Four Comprehensive Instinctive Mechanisms and the Relevance of Their Excessive Diversification to Human Dysfunctional Behavior" (chapter 5). The book shifts attention to the discipline of psychiatry in particular with its discussion of psychotropic drugs (chapter 6). But the real heart of the book is found in its exhaustive survey of human dysfunctional behavior as defined and described by DSM 5 (chapter 7). Chapter 8 brings the work to a satisfying conclusion by summarizing and explaining the implications of the theory, and by highlighting further avenues of research.

Primarily for professionals in the fields of mental health, those studying to become psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, social workers, and those who do research in these and related fields, this book is an indispensable resource for research, study, and practice. What Darwin's On the Origin of Species did for evolution, Fuchs's The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior does for the field of psychiatry.