El mono que se enamoró de los símbolos

What makes humans different from other animals? Our nature is based on a passion for the symbolic, which modulates our emotions and has been inextricably linked to the emergence of mental disorders such as madness. Humans are different from other animals. But what determines this difference? It has nothing to do with being more intelligent or more rational, but rather with the fact that we are moved by things that leave other living beings unmoved. The essence of our nature unfolds in language and a passion for the symbolic, which modulates our emotions and has always been inextricably linked to the emergence of specifically human mental disorders, such as madness. In this book, Julio Sanjuan explores, from the emergence of the species, the three differential aspects that explain our enormous evolutionary success: individual creativity, the instinct for cooperation, and a passion for symbols. Based on the concept of "synchrony," he proposes a transversal model that sheds light on the origins of our emotions and their disorders, and proposes a common language between the biological, psychological, and social aspects of their causes and mechanisms. If each brain is unique, only from an integrative, anti-dogmatic, and flexible perspective can we find the best way to confront our emotional conflicts.

Julio Sanjuan Arias es psiquiatra. Ha sido coordinador de la Unidad de Primeros Episodios Psicóticos del Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia, investigador principal de Psiquiatría y Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas de INCLIVA-Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y profesor titular de Psiquiatría en la Universidad de Valencia. Ha publicado más de 220 artículos en revistas indexadas y más de 50 capítulos de libros. Ha sido editor de los libros Evolución cerebral y psicopatología (2000), La profecía de Darwin (2005), Teoría de la evolución y medicina (2010) y autor de -Tratar la mente o tratar el cerebro? Hacia una integración entre la psicoterapia y los psicofármacos (2016).