Articles by date
Most Articles and chapters are organized chronologically here, but newer ones are here or on the homepage
Here is a link to most articles in a web folder
Nesse RM: Psychology and the teaching of English composition. Minnesota English Journal, Spring, 1969.
Curtis GC, Nesse RM, Buxton M, Wright J, Lippman D: Flooding in vivo as research tool and treatment methods for phobias: A preliminary report. Comparative Psychiatry, 17:153-160, 1976.
Curtis GC, Buxton M, Lippman D, Nesse RM, Wright J: "Flooding in vivo" during the circadian phase of minimal cortisol secretion: Anxiety and therapeutic success without adrenal cortical activation. Biological Psychiatry, 11:101-107, 1976.
Nesse RM, Carroll BJ; Cholinergic side-effects associated with deanol, (letter). Lancet, 11:50-51, 1976.
Curtis GC, Nesse RM, Buxton M, Lippman D: Anxiety and plasma cortisol at the crest of the circadian cycle: Reappraisal of a classical hypothesis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 40:368-378, 1978.
Curtis GC, Nesse RM, Buxton M, Lippman D: Plasma Growth hormone: Effect of anxiety during flooding in vivo. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136:410-414, 1979.
Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Brown GM, Rubin RT: Anxiety induced by flooding therapy for phobias does not elicit prolactin secretory response. Psychosomatic Medicine, 42:25-31, 1980.
Nesse RM, Carli T, Curtis GC, Kleinman PD: Pretreatment nausea in cancer chemotherapy: A conditioned response? Psychosomatic Medicine., 42:33-36, 1980.
Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Brown GM: Phobic anxiety does not affect plasma levels of thyroid stimulating hormone in man. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 7:69-74, 1982.
Curtis GC, Cameron OG, Nesse RM: The dexamethasone suppression test in panic disorder and agoraphobia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139:1043-1046, 1982.
Nesse RM, Carli T, Curtis GC, Kleinman PD: Pseudohallucinations in cancer chemotherapy patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140:483-485, 1983.
Nesse RM, Cameron OG, Curtis GC, McCann DS, Huber-Smith MS: Adrenergic function in patients with panic anxiety. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41:771-776, 1984.
Nesse RM: The evolution of senescence (letter). The New England Journal of Medicine, 310:660, 1984.
Tomlin P, Thyer BA, Curtis GC, Nesse RM, Cameron OC, Wright P: Standardization of the fear survey schedule based upon patients with DSM-III anxiety disorders. Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 15:123-126, 1984.
Nesse RM: An evolutionary perspective on psychiatry. Comparative Psychiatry 25:575-580, 1984.
Cameron OC, Smith CB, Hollingsworth PJ, Nesse RM, Curtis GC: Platelet alpha-2 adrenergic receptor binding and plasma catecholamines before and during imipramine treatment in patients with panic anxiety.Archives of General Psychiatry 41:1144-1148, 1985.
Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Thyer BA, McCann D, Huber-Smith, MJ: Endocrine and cardiovascular responses during phobic anxiety. Psychosomatic Medicine, 47:320-332, 1985.
Thyer BA, Nesse RM, Cameron OG, Curtis GC: Agoraphobia: A test of the separation anxiety hypothesis. Behavioral Research Therapy, 23:75-78, 1985.
Starkman MN, Zelnik T, Nesse RM, Cameron OC: Anxiety in patients with pheochromocytoma. Archives of Internal Medicine, 145:248-252, 1985.
Thyer BA, Parrish RT, Curtis GC, Nesse RM, Cameron OG: Ages of onset of DSM-III anxiety disorders. Comparative Psychiatry, 26:113-122, 1985.
Nesse RM, Cameron OG, Buda AJ, McCann DS, Curtis GC, Huber-Smith M: Urinary catecholamines and mitral valve prolapse in panic anxiety patients. Psychiatry Research, 14:67-74, 1985.
Rainey JR, Nesse RM: Psychobiology of anxiety and anxiety disorders. In Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol 8, pp. 133-144, 1985. Curtis GC, Thyer BA, Rainey J (eds); Saunders, Philadelphia.
Thyer BA, Himle J, Curtis GC, Cameron OG, Nesse RM: A comparison of panic disorder and agoraphobia with panic attacks. Comparative Psychiatry, 26:208-214, 1985.
Thyer BA, Tonlin P, Curtis GC, Cameron OG, Nesse RM: Diagnostic and gender differences in the expressed fears of anxious patients. Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 16:111-115, 1985.
Thyer BA, Parrish RT, Himle J, Cameron OG, Curtis GC, Nesse RM: Alcohol abuse among clinically anxious patients. Behavioral Research Therapy, 24 :357-359, l986.
Thyer BA, Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Cameron OG: Panic disorder: a test of the separation anxiety hypothesis. Behavioral Research Therapy , 24(2):209-211, 1986.
Cameron OG, Thyer BA, Fechner S, Curtis GC, Nesse RM: Behavior therapy of phobias: Predictors of outcome, (letter) Psychiatry Research 19: 245-246, l986.
Cameron OG, Thyer BA, Nesse RM, Curtis GC: Symptom profiles of DSM-III anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143(9)L 1132-1137, l986.
Nesse RM, Curtis GC, Cameron, OG, Lee M: How antipanic drugs might work. (letter) American Journal of Psychiatry, 143:945, l986.
Nesse RM: An evolutionary perspective on senescence. Philosophy and Medicine, 26:45-64, Ethical Dimensions of Geriatric Care, Spicker SF, Ingman SR, Lawson IR (eds), D. Ridel, l987.
Nesse RM: Life table tests of evolutionary theories of senescence, Experimental Gerontology 23: 445-453, 1988.
Cameron OG, Nesse RM: Systemic hormonal and physiological abnormalities in anxiety disorders: A review. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 13:287-307, 1988.
Nesse RM: Panic disorder: An evolutionary view. Psychiatric Annals, 18:8: 478-483, 1988.
Modell JG, Himle J, Nesse RM, Mountz JM, Schmaltz S: Sequential trials of fluoxetine, phenelzine, and tranylcypromine in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 3:287-293, 1989.
Low BS, Nesse RM: Summary of the Evolution and Human Behavior Conferences: Ann Arbor, Michigan, April and October 1988. Ethology and Sociobiology, 10:457-465, 1989.
Nesse RM, Silverman A, Bortz A: Sex differences in ability to recognize family resemblance. Ethology and Sociobiology, 11: 11-21, 1990.
Starkman MN, Cameron OG, Nesse RM, Zelnik T: Peripheral catecholamine levels and the symptoms of anxiety: studies in patients with and without pheochromocytoma. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52: 129-142, 1990.
Nesse RM: Evolutionary explanations of emotions. Human Nature, 1: 261-289, 1990.
Abelson, JA, Nesse RM, Vinik, A: Treatment of panic-like attacks with a long-acting analogue of somatostatin. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 10: 128-132, 1990.
Nesse RM: The evolutionary function of repression and the ego defenses. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis 18:260-286, 1990.
Williams GW, Nesse RM: The dawn of Darwinian medicine. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 66:1-22, 1991.
Nesse RM: Psychiatry, in The Sociobiological Imagination. Edited by Mary Maxwell. New York: SUNY Press, pp. 23-40, 1991.
Nesse RM: Human nature and the Holy Grail (commentary). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14 (2), 312-313, 1991.
Nesse RM: What is mood for? Psycholoquy 2: Issue 9.2, November 24, 1991.
Replies to commentaries:Nesse RM: Mood as a communication medium. Psycholoquy 3:2, 1992.Nesse RM: Social functions of mood: Reply to Sloman. Psycholoquy 3:4, 1992Nesse RM: Over-valuation of the emotion-mood distinction:. Psycholoquy 3:6, 1992Nesse RM: Under-valuation of the emotion-mood distinction. Psycholoquy 3: 12, 1992.Nesse RM: Ethology to the rescue: Reply to Plutchik. Psycholoquy 3:12, 1992Nesse RM: What good is feeling bad? The evolutionary utility of psychic pain. The Sciences, 30-37, Nov./Dec. 1991.
Abelson JA, Nesse RM, Vinik A: Stimulation of corticotrophin release by pentagastrin in normal subjects and patients with panic disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 1991; 29:1220-1223.
Kloss RJ, Nesse RM: Trisomy: Chromosome competition or maternal strategy? Increase of trisomy incidence with increasing maternal age does not result from competition between chromosomes. Ethology and Sociobiology 13:283-287, 1992.
Nesse RM, Lloyd, AT: The Evolution of Psychodynamic Mechanisms, in The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture. Edited by Barkow J, Cosmides L and Tooby J. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, pp. 601-626, 1992.
McGuire MT, Marks I, Nesse RM, Troisi A: Evolutionary biology: A basic science for psychiatry. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 86:89-96, 1992.
Nesse RM, Klaas, R: Risk perception by patients with anxiety disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 182:465-470, 1994.
Nesse RM: An evolutionary perspective on substance abuse. Ethology and Sociobiology 15:339-348, 1994.
Marks IM, Nesse RM: Fear and fitness: An evolutionary analysis of anxiety disorders. Ethology and Sociobiology 15:247-261, 1994.
(see also http://www.depression.org.uk/main/infocentre/anxietycenter/general10.pdf )
Nesse RM: Why is group selection such a problem? Behavior and Brain Science, 17 (4) 633-634, 1994.
Nesse RM: Computer emotions and mental software. Social Neuroscience Bulletin 7(2): 36-37, 1994.
Abelson JL, Nesse RM: Pentagastric infusions in patients with panic disorder I. Symptoms and cardiovascular responses. Biological Psychiatry 36: 73-83, 1994.
Abelson JL, Nesse RM, Vinik, I, Aaron I: Pentagastric infusions in patients with panic disorder II. Neuroendocrinology. Biological Psychiatry 36: 84-96, 1994.
Abelson JL, Curtis GC, Nesse RN, Fantone R, Pyke RE, Bammert Adams J: The effects of central cholecystokinin receptor blockade on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and symptomatic responses to overnight withdrawal from alprazolam. Biological Psychiatry , 37:56-59, 1995.
Schweitzer PB, Nesse RM, Fantone RF, Curtis GC: Outcomes of group cognitive behavioral training in the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 1:83-91, 1995.
Nesse RM, Abelson JL: Natural selection and fear regulation mechanisms. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18(2):309-310, 1995.
Nesse RM, Williams GC: Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, Times Books, New York, 1995. Also published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London as Evolution and Healing: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. Translations completed or underway to German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish. Das bild wissenschaft . Book of the Year-1997.
Cameron OG, Smith CB, Nesse RM, Hill EM, Hollingsworth PJ, Abelson JA, Hariharan M, Curtis, GC: Platelet Alpha2-Adrenoreceptors, Catecholamines, Hemodynamic Variables, and Anxiety in Panic Patients and Their Asymptomatic Relatives. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58:289-301, 1996.
Abelson JL, Nesse RM, Weg, JG, Curtis GC: Respiratory Psychophysiology and Anxiety: Cognitive Intervention in the Doxapram Model of Panic. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58:302-313, 1996.
Abelson JL, Weg JG, Nesse RN, Curtis, GC: Neuroendocrine responses to laboratory panic: Cognitive intervention in the doxapram model. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 21(4):375-90, 1996.
Nesse RM, Berridge K Psychoactive drug use in evolutionary perspective. Science, 277: 63-65, 1997.
Nesse RM and GC Williams. Evolutionary biology in the medical curriculum: What every physician should know. Bioscience 47: 664-666, 1997.
Young EA, Abelson JL, Curtis GC, Nesse RM Childhood adversity and vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders. Depression 5: 66-72, 1997.
Albucher RC, Abelson JL, and RM Nesse. Defense mechanism changes in successfully treated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1998. 155(4): p. 558-9, 1998.
Nesse RM: What Darwinian medicine offers psychiatry. Evolutionary Medicine, W. R. Trevathan, J. J. McKenna and E. O. Smith. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Young EA, Nesse RM, Weder, A, & Julius, S Anxiety and cardiovascular reactivity in the Tecumseh population. Journal of Hypertension, 16(1727-1733), 1998.
Nesse RM Emotional Disorders in Evolutionary Perspective. British Journal of Medical Psychology 71:397-415, 1998.
Nesse RM, & Williams, GC Evolution and the Origins of Disease. Scientific American, 29 (5): 86-93, 1998.
Nesse RM Research designs that address evolutionary questions about medical disorders. pp. 16-26 in Evolutionary Medicine, S. Stearns. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Nesse RM Testing evolutionary hypotheses about mental disorders. pp. 260-266 In Evolutionary Medicine edited by S. Stearns. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Himle JA, Abelson JL, Haghightgou H, Hill EM, Nesse RM and Curtis, GC. Effect of Alcohol on Social Phobic Anxiety. American Journal of Psychiatry 156: 1237-1243, 1999.
Nesse RM Proximate and evolutionary studies of stress and depression: Synergy at the Interface Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews,23 (7): 895-903, 1999.
Nesse RM, Young, E The evolutionary origins and functions of the stress response, The Encyclopedia of Stress, George Fink (Ed.), Academic Press, NY, 79-84, 2000. (see 2005 update)
Nesse RM, Williams, GC On Darwinian medicine. Life Science Research 3 (1): 1-17, 1999.
Nesse RM, The evolution of hope and despair. Social Research, 66 (2): 429-469, 1999.
Nesse RM How selfish genes shape moral passions. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (1/2): 227-231, 2000.
Nesse RM Strategic subjective commitment. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (1/2): 326-330-231, 2000.
Nesse RM Is depression an adaptation? Archives of General Psychiatry, 57: 14-20, 2000.
Nesse RM Printing-The greatest invention. In The Greatest Inventions of the past 2000 Years edited by J. Brockman, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000.
Nesse, RM Is grief really maladaptive? (Review of The Nature of Grief, by John Archer) Evolution and Human Behavior 29: 59-61, 2000.
Nesse, RM On the difficulty of defining disease: A Darwinian perspective. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 4:37-46, 2001.
Nesse, RM: Natural selection, mental modules and intelligence. Novartis Foundation Symposium 233, The Nature of Intelligence, Wiley, London, 2000.
Nesse, RM (ed.): Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment, Russell Sage Press, New York, 2001. [Book]
Nesse, RM: The evolution of subjective commitment. In Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment, Russell Sage Press, edited by RM Nesse, 2001.
Nesse, RM: Commitment in the clinic (draft-see book for final), In Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment, Russell Sage Press, edited by RM Nesse, 2001.
Nesse, RM: The Future of commitment (draft-see book for final), In Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment, Russell Sage Press, edited by RM Nesse, 2001.
Nesse, RM: Motivation and Melancholy: A Darwinian perspective. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 2001.
Keller, MC, Nesse, RM, Hofferth, S: The Trivers�€“Willard hypothesis of parental investment No effect in the contemporary United States Evolution and Human Behavior 22: 343�€“360, 2001.
Nesse, RM: The smoke detector principle: Natural selection and the regulation of defenses. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 935: 75-85, 2001.
Carr D, House, JS, Kessler RC, Nesse RM, Sonnega J, Wortman C: Marital quality and psychological adjustment to widowhood among older adults: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 55B(4): S97-S207, 2000
Nesse, RM: Living with Luxury Fever. Review of Luxury Fever by Robert Frank, Free Press, New York, 1999. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2001.
Nesse, RM: How is Darwinian medicine useful? Western Medical Journal, 174: 358-359, 2001.
Nesse, RM: Medicine's missing basic science. The New Physician, Dec. 2001: 8-10.
Bonanno GA, Wortman CB, Lehman D, Tweed RG, Haring M, Sonnega J, Carr D, Nesse, RM. Resilience to Loss and Chronic Grief: A Prospective Study from Pre-loss to Eighteen Months Post-Loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83 (5): 1150-1164, 2002.
Nesse RM. Evolution and Addiction. Addiction 97 (4):470-1, 2002.
Sen S, Nesse RM, Stoltenberg SF, Li S, Gleiberman L, Chakravarti A, Weder AB and Burmeister M: Burmeister M: A BDNF Coding Variant is Associated with the NEO-Personality Domain Neuroticism, a Risk Factor for Depression. Neuropsychopharmacology 28, 397�€“401, 2003.
Utz R, Reidy E, Carr D, Nesse RM, Wortman CB: The Daily Consequences of Widowhood: The Role of Gender and Intergenerational Transfers on subsequent Housework Performance. Journal of Family Issues 24 (5):683-712, 2004.
Jackson, J. S., Torres, M., Caldwell, C. H., Neighbors, H. W., Nesse, R. M., Taylor, R. J., Trierweiler, S. J., Williams, D. W. (2004). The National Survey of American Life: a study of racial, ethnic and cultural influences on mental disorders and mental health. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13:4 pp. 196-207
Nesse, RM: Maladaptation and natural selection. Quarterly Review of Biology 80(1):62-70, 2005.
Sen S, RM Nesse, L Sheng, SF Stoltenberg, L Gleiberman, M Burmeister and AB Weder.. Association between a Dopamine 4 Receptor Polymorphism (DRD4) and Blood Pressure: Evidence for a Gene-Age Interaction, American Journal of Hypertension 18: 1206-1210, 2005.
Nesse, RM: Evolutionary explanations for mood and mood disorders. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Mood Disorders, edited by Daniel J. Stein , David J. Kupfer, and Alan F. Schatzberg, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington DC, pp. 159-175, 2006.
Keller, MC, Nesse, RM: The Evolutionary Significance of Low Mood Symptoms. , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(2):316-30, 2006. .
Carr D, Nesse RM, Wortman CB: Late Life Widowhood in the United States, Springer, New York, NY, 2005. [Book�€”Link to Amazon]
Nesse, RM: Understanding late life widowhood: New directions in research, theory and practice. In Carr D, Nesse R, Wortman CB: Late Life Widowhood in the United States, Springer, 2005, pp. 3-18.
Nesse, RM: An evolutionary perspective on bereavement. In Carr D, Nesse R, Wortman CB: Late Life Widowhood in the United States, Springer, 2005, pp. 195-226.
Nesse RM, Bhatnagar S, Young, E: The evolutionary origins and functions of the stress response, The Encyclopedia of Stress, Second Edition, Academic Press, NY, 2007.
Nesse RM: Why so many people with selfish genes are pretty nice--Except for their hatred of The Selfish Gene. In Alan Grafen and Matt Ridley, The Selfish Gene at 30, Oxford University Press, London, 2008
Kruger DJ, Nesse RM: An evolutionary life history understanding of sex differences in human mortality rates. Human Nature,74 (1): 74-97, 2006.
Nesse RM, Stearns SC, Omenn GS: 2006 Medicine needs evolution (editorial). Science 311:1071.
Nesse RM: Darwinian medicine and Mental Disorders. Elsevier International Congress Series, 1296:83-94, 2006.
Oyserman D, Uskul A, Yoder N, Nesse R, Williams D: Unfair treatment and self-regulatory focus. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, 2007.
Williams SR,, Gonzalez HM, Neighbors HW, Nesse RM, Abelson JM, Sweetman J, Jackson JS: Prevalence and Distribution of Major Depressive Disorder among African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and Non-Hispanic Whites: Results from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Archives of General Psychiatry, in press.
Ha J, Carr D, Utz RL, Nesse RM Older Adults Perceptions of Intergenerational Support After Widowhood: How Do Men and Women Differ? Journal of Family Issues 27 (1): 3-10, 2006
Nesse RM, Jackson ED: Evolution: Psychiatric nosology's missing biological foundation. Clinical Neuropsychiatry 3(2):121-131, 2006.
Nesse RM, Bhatnagar S, Young, E: The evolutionary origins and functions of the stress response, The Encyclopedia of Stress, Second Edition, Edited by George Fink, Academic Press: San Diego, 2007, 965-970.
Nesse RM: The importance of evolution for medicine. Chapter 23 in Evolutionary Medicine, Edited by Trevathan W, Smith EO & McKenna, JJ, Oxford University Press, 416-232, 2007.
Stearns SS, Nesse RM, Haig D: Introducing evolutionary thinking for medicine, Chapter 1 in Evolutionary Biology in Health and Disease, Edited by Stephen Stearns, Oxford University Press, 3-15, 2007.
Kruger, DJ, Nesse, RM: An evolutionary framework for understanding sex differences in Croatian mortality rates. Psychological Topics, 15 (2): 351-364, 2006.
Nesse RM: Evolution is the scientific foundation for diagnosis: Psychiatry should use it. World Psychiatry 6 (3): 160-161, 2007.
Kruger DJ, Nesse RM: Economic transition, male competition, and sex differences in mortality rates. Evolutionary Psychology 5(2): 411-427, 2007.
Nesse RM: Runaway Social Selection for Displays of Partner Value and Altruism, Biological Theory 2 (2): 143-155, 2007.
Nesse, R. M.: What evolutionary biology offers public health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(2), 83, 2008.
Nesse, R. M.: Evolution in medical education: The most basic science is missing. Lancet, 372, 21-27, 2008.
Nesse RM, Ellsworth PC. Evolution, emotions, and emotional disorders. American Psychologist, 64(2):129-39, 2009.
Nesse RM. Digesting Evolution. Nature. [Book Review];460:461, 2009.
Pasca SP, Nesse RM. Vomiting is not an adaption for glaucoma (and Darwinian medicine is difficult). Medical Hypotheses. 71(3):472-3, 2008.
Nesse RM. L'importanza dell'evoluzione per la medicina. Lettura darwiniana della medicina; Roma: L'Arco di Giano; 2009. p. 9-35.
Nesse RM. Digesting Evolution. Nature. [Book Review];460:461, 2009.
Gonzalez HM, Croghan T, West B, Williams D, Nesse R, Tarraf W, Taylor R, Hinton L, Neighbors H, Jackson J. Antidepressant Use in Black and White Populations in the United States.Psychiatric Services;59(10):1131, 2008.
Nesse, R. M. (2019, March). The Puzzle of the Unbalanced Mind. Psychology Today.