# The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: Implications for prevention and treatment - URL: https://alisanburak.com/en/wcp-2026-posterler/k1610 - Language: en - Last updated: not specified - Page title: The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: Implications for prevention and treatment | WCP 2026 Summary > Viewing eating disorders through the lens of a mismatch between evolved systems for feeding, reward, threat, social comparison, and mating competition and the… This page was translated automatically from Turkish. [Read the original](https://alisanburak.com/wcp-2026-posterler/k1610) This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it. Symposium PresentationEating DisordersReview / Opinion # The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: Implications for prevention and treatment The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: implications for prevention and treatment Presenter: Agnes Ayton Country: United Kingdom Session: 4711 - THE FUTURE OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHIATRY: CLINICAL PRACTICE, EDUCATION AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF PSYCHIATRISTS Date: Sat, 26.09.2026, 14:45 - 15:00 Room: Hall K16 Viewing eating disorders through the lens of a mismatch between evolved systems for feeding, reward, threat, social comparison, and mating competition and the modern environment offers distinct implications for both prevention and treatment. The talk addresses an evolutionary puzzle: why should behaviors that threaten survival and reproduction be heritable, why should they disproportionately affect women, and why do they appear to have increased with modernization and Westernization? Evolutionary psychiatry complements proximate explanations of symptoms by examining the ultimate causes that may have shaped the underlying biological and psychological systems. Proposed evolutionary hypotheses include adaptation to famine, social threat, and sexual competition; the intrasexual competition hypothesis offers the broadest explanatory scope for sex differences. Extended mismatch hypotheses suggest that eating disorders may arise in part from conflicts among evolved systems regulating food intake, reward, threat, social comparison, and mating competition; an abundance of energy-dense foods, social comparison groups expanded by idealized digital images, and delayed childbearing may interact with genetic, developmental, and psychological vulnerabilities to trigger or sustain disordered eating. The implication for prevention is to move beyond simply identifying vulnerable individuals and target environmental factors that amplify risk. For treatment, the emphasis is that, regardless of how a disorder begins, dietary restriction and malnutrition activate powerful biological and behavioral responses that perpetuate the illness, and behaviors that appear deliberate or resistant may reflect the interplay of starvation, reinforcement, threat, and evolved motivational systems; this supports early nutritional rehabilitation alongside psychological interventions. The talk notes that the evolutionary framework is not an established treatment model but rather broadens the biopsychosocial formulation; its clinical value lies in reducing blame, connecting individual treatment with population-level prevention, and generating testable hypotheses about modifiable mechanisms. How to cite this study APA 7: Ayton, A., et al. (2026, September 26). The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: implications for prevention and treatment [Symposium presentation]. 26th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry (WCP 2026), Stockholm, Sweden. Vancouver: Ayton A, et al. The evolutionary mismatch behind eating disorders: implications for prevention and treatment [symposium presentation]. 26th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry (WCP 2026); 2026 Sep 23-26; Stockholm, Sweden. 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