Biology of Family Systems and Mood Disorders

Ethology offers psychiatry and family therapy an alternative perspective for understanding hierarchical dysfunction and individual psychopathology and the relation between them. Dominance and submission behaviors--descriptions from ethology--represent communicational mechanisms that play pivotal roles in maintaining the stability of the family group. When conflict becomes acute, dominant and submissive states are experienced as euphoria and mild depression respectively. Smooth functioning of these communicational mechanisms at the individual level enhances cohesion at the group level. Feelings of inadequacy and inferiority may be manifestations of submissive patterns and may function to maintain negative or corrective feedback loops, which preserve group stability. However, these communicational mechanisms may exhibit positive feedback runaway effects such that family crises result. These and other clinical implications of the model are explored.