Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-1044
ISSN: 2167-1044
Hoyle Leigh
San Francisco, Fresno Medical Education Program, 155 N. Fresno St, Fresno, CA 93701
Tanzania
Research Article
A Gene x Meme x Environment Interaction Model of Mental Illness
Author(s): Hoyle LeighHoyle Leigh
Background/Aims: Memes, like genes, are replicating packets of information. Genes make proteins, memes make thoughts and behaviors. Memes are memory that became portable in the course of evolution through speech and written words.
Methods: Memes consist of both memory formed by experience and information the brain absorbs. Memes reside as reinforced neural clusters in the brain, and undergo Darwinian natural selection. Genes do not interact with environment directly, but through memes.
Results: In vulnerable individuals, childhood stress may introduce pathogenic memes (e.g. helplessness) that take up residence in the brain. Exposure to stress memes in adulthood may induce a brain state favorable to the proliferation of resident pathogenic memes, which then may overwhelm the brain, resulting in a mental illness. Treatme.. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2167-1044.1000116