Computational Psychiatry: A Systems Biology Approach to the Epigenetics of Mental Disorders

243 Pages·2017·2.909 MB·English

by  Rodrick Wallace (auth.)

Rodrick Wallace
Computational
Psychiatry
A Systems Biology Approach to the
Epigenetics of Mental Disorders
Computational Psychiatry
Rodrick Wallace
Computational Psychiatry
A Systems Biology Approach
to the Epigenetics of Mental Disorders
123
RodrickWallace
NewYorkStatePsychiatricInstitute
NewYork,NY,USA
ISBN978-3-319-53909-6 ISBN978-3-319-53910-2 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53910-2
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017934644
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Preface
US psychiatry is in crisis. Perhaps the most evident symptom is the ‘trans-
institutionalization’ of those with serious mental illness (SMI) from hospitals to
jailsandprisons,followingdecadesofpsychiatricbedeliminations.ForNewYork
State,some96,000suchbedswereavailableinthemid-1950s.About3000remain.
New York City’s Rikers Island jail houses some 11,000 inmates, with about 4000
nowdiagnosedassufferingSMI.Statewide,approximately60%ofhospitalbedsin
jailsandprisonsareoccupiedbythosewithSMI.Currentpolicyinitiativesfocuson
makingthismassjailingofthementallyill‘morehumane’.Thepatternisrepeated
nationally.AsBastimpillaietal.(2016)note:
Currently,theUnitedStateshasarelativelylow22psychiatricbedsper100,000population
compared with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
average of 71 beds per 100,000 population. Only 4 of the 35 OECD countries (Italy,
Chile,Turkey,andMexico)havefewerpsychiatricbedsper100,000populationthanthe
UnitedStates...Germany,Switzerland,andFrancehave127,91,and87psychiatricbeds
per100,000population,respectively.
(Bastiampillai,T.,S.Sharfstein,S.Allison,2016,USsuicideratesandthecriticaldecline
inpsychiatricbeds,
JAMA,doi:10.1001/jama.2016.16989)
Further,thepharmaceuticalindustryhaslargelyabandonedattemptstodevelop
new drugs for SMI, beyond some continuing work on supposedly ‘organic’
dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, which are themselves highly stratified at
thepopulationlevelaccordingtoeducation,incomeandsocialstatus.
Intellectually, mainstream psychiatric doctrine exceeds even the discredited
neoliberalatomismofmainstreameconomics,committingthemereologicalfallacy
of attributing to ‘the brain’ what are complex disorders of not merely the entire
individualbuttheindividualenmeshedinbothcultureandanenvironmentthat,for
humans,involvesmostlyotherhumansandtheirinstitutions.
Indeed,thislattercircumstancehasnotgoneentirelyunremarked.AsHuysetal.
(2016)putit:
...[M]ental healthdependsnotonlyonthefunctionofthebrain...but alsoonhowthat
function relates to, influences, and is influenced by the individual’s environmental and
v
vi Preface
experiential challenges. Understanding mental health, and its disruption, therefore relies
onlinkingmultipleinteractinglevels,frommoleculestocells,circuits,cognition,behavior,
andthephysicalandsocialenvironment.
(Huys, Q., T. Maia, M. Frank, 2016, Computational psychiatry as a bridge from neuro-
sciencetoclinicalapplications,NatureNeuroscience,19:404–413)
But,althoughtherearemanyattemptsintheliteraturetomathematicallymodel
neural process and, in some measure, its dysfunction, for ideological reasons,
there is little actually available that places mental function within sociocultural,
socioeconomicandenvironmentalcontext.Whatdoesexistiswidelyscattered,both
aspeer-reviewedpapersandindividualchapters.Thisbookbringstheauthor’swork
inthisdirectionintoasingleplaceandsignificantlyextendsit.
Onecentralpointisthatalargeclassofcognitiveprocessescanbeapproximated
in terms of information sources. This is because cognition involves active choice
of a response to impinging signals from a larger set of available alternatives.
Choice reduces uncertainty, in a formal manner, and reduction in uncertainty
implies the existence of an information source that we take as ‘dual’ to the
cognitive process. The asymptotic limit theorems of information and control
theories then impose themselves, allowing construction of necessary conditions
statisticalmodels,roughlyasthecentrallimittheoremallowsconstructionofleast
squaresregressionmodels.Whilestatisticsisnotscience,statisticalmodelspermit
comparison of similar systems under different conditions and different systems
under similar conditions. To understate the case, iterating such comparisons can
be of great use in refining scientific inference based on observational or empirical
data.
A second central point is that, taking the perspective of Bennett and Feynman,
in spite of its mathematical form, information is not an entropy, but a kind
of free energy. Indeed, it is easy to construct an elegant little ideal machine
that converts the information within a message to useful work. It then becomes
possible to construct dynamic statistical models akin to Onsager’s treatment of
nonequilibrium thermodynamics, albeit without ‘reciprocity relations’ since most
informationsourcesarenotevenlocallyreversible:palindromesareveryrare.
The first chapter examines the primary mental experience—consciousness—
from an evolutionary perspective, recognizing the ubiquitous role played by the
exaptation of crosstalk between cognitive modules at many different scales and
levelsoforganization,inanexplosionofparalleltraitsverysimilartosuchexamples
asthemanydifferentformsofwingsforflight.
Chapter 2 explores the missing heritability of complex diseases, focusing on
‘culturalepigenetics’asessentialcontributing‘darkmatter’,whileChapter3makes
the case that all forms of SMI are—necessarily and inherently—‘culture-bound
syndromes’.Chapter4introducescontroltheorytoolstoexploretheenvironmental
induction of neurodevelopmental disorders, in a large sense, and Chapter 5 con-
tinues with a study of the synergism between culture, psychopathology and sleep
disorders.
Chapter6reexaminesfunctionanddysfunctionfromtheperspectiveofembod-
iment. Chapter 7 introduces ‘hidden symmetry’ methods that should be useful in
Preface vii
future studies of this nature. Chapters 8 and 9 use perspectives developed from
computational psychiatry to examine failure modes of autonomous vehicle and
autonomous/centaur weapon systems, emerging as de facto ‘psychopathologies’
of automata. Chapter 10 applies approaches from evolutionary economics to the
self-referentialdynamicsofenvironmentalinsult,findingratchetdynamicsthatcan
trigger increase or decline in factors producing developmental and cognitive dys-
function.Thefinalchapterexamines‘themadnessofcrowds’fromtheperspective
ofrecentUSsecuritydoctrine.
The chapters can be read separately according to interest; hence there is some
considerable repetition of methodology between them, but many mathematical
detailshavebeencollectedintoageneralappendix.
Contrary, perhaps, to current expectations, it appears that the level of mathe-
matics needed to address cognitive function and dysfunction in full context rivals,
and likely exceeds, the norms of general relativity, high-energy particle physics,
theoreticalchemistry,andstringtheory.
AbouttheAuthor
Rodrick Wallace has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a Ph.D.
in physics from Columbia University. He completed postdoctoral training in the
epidemiology of mental disorders at Rutgers University and is a research scientist
intheDivisionofEpidemiologyoftheNewYorkStatePsychiatricInstitute.Apast
recipient of an Investigator Award in Health Policy Research from the Robert
WoodJohnsonFoundation,heisaformerpublicinterestlobbyistandtheauthorof
numerouspeer-reviewedpapersandbooksacrossavarietyofdisciplines.Hiswork
specializes in understanding the roles of state policy, historical trajectory, culture
andsocioeconomicstructureindeterminingpatternsofpublichealthandorder.
TwopoemsbyAlfonzWallace
WARNING
Lookintohismind,andthen
Neverdaretolookagain;
For,inallthatwemightsee,
Thereismuchofyouandme.
BLACKNARCISSUS
Ofallnight’sstrangeinhabitants,
ThecreatureIfearworst
Neverbetraysthecountenance
Thatmakesmysleepaccursed.
Ifleeandsearch,findingnoplace
Hisdarkshapewillnotfind,
Wholivesinmyownbody’sspace
Andborrowsmyownmind.
Contents
1 Consciousness,Crosstalk,andtheMereologicalFallacy............... 1
1.1 Introduction........................................................... 1
1.2 SomeCognitiveGlobalBroadcasts ................................. 3
1.3 AnimalConsciousness............................................... 8
1.4 Cognitionas“Language” ............................................ 10
1.5 NoFreeLunch........................................................ 12
1.6 MultipleBroadcasts,PunctuatedDetection......................... 15
1.7 MetabolicConstraints................................................ 16
1.8 EnvironmentalSignals............................................... 17
1.9 Dynamic“RegressionModels”...................................... 18
1.10 PhaseTransitionApproaches........................................ 22
1.11 TheRateDistortionApproach....................................... 25
1.12 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 30
References.................................................................... 32
2 CulturalEpigenetics:OntheMissingHeritability
ofComplexDiseases........................................................ 37
2.1 Introduction........................................................... 37
2.2 ACognitiveParadigmforGeneExpression........................ 41
2.3 ModelsofDevelopment.............................................. 42
2.4 TunableEpigeneticCatalysis........................................ 46
2.5 TheGroupoidFreeEnergy .......................................... 48
2.6 “Phase Change” and the Developmental Holonomy
GroupoidinPhenotypeSpace ....................................... 51
2.7 HolonomyontheManifoldofDualInformationSources.......... 53
2.8 RateDistortionModels .............................................. 57
2.9 ExpandingtheMathematicalApproach............................. 63
2.10 Discussion ............................................................ 64
References.................................................................... 66
ix
x Contents
3 WesternAtomismandItsCulture-BoundSyndromes ................. 71
3.1 Introduction........................................................... 71
3.2 WesternAtomisticEconomics....................................... 73
3.3 CognitionasanInformationSource................................. 75
3.4 EnvironmentasanInformationSource ............................. 78
3.5 InteractingInformationSources..................................... 80
3.6 CrosstalkTopologies................................................. 81
3.7 PunctuatedCriticalPhenomena ..................................... 82
3.8 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 84
References.................................................................... 86
4 EnvironmentalInductionofNeurodevelopmentalDisorders.......... 89
4.1 Introduction........................................................... 89
4.2 AControlTheoryModel............................................. 92
4.3 A“Cognitive”Model ................................................ 96
4.4 TheMitochondrialConnection...................................... 99
4.5 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 100
References.................................................................... 102
5 Sleep,Psychopathology,andCulture..................................... 105
5.1 Introduction........................................................... 105
5.2 ReactionRate......................................................... 107
5.3 TheDataRateTheorem.............................................. 110
5.4 RateDistortionDynamics ........................................... 111
5.5 TheSleepCycle:AnOptimizationModel.......................... 114
5.6 TransitionDynamics................................................. 117
5.7 CulturalCatalysisoftheSleepCycle ............................... 118
5.8 EnvironmentalInductionofSleepDisorders ....................... 119
5.9 ChronicDysfunctionsoftheSleepCycle........................... 121
5.10 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 124
References.................................................................... 126
6 EmbodiedCognitionandItsDisorders .................................. 129
6.1 Introduction........................................................... 129
6.2 TheDataRateTheorem.............................................. 131
6.3 CognitionasanInformationSource................................. 132
6.4 EnvironmentasanInformationSource ............................. 135
6.5 BodyDynamicsandCultureasInformationSources .............. 136
6.6 InteractingInformationSources..................................... 137
6.7 SimpleRegulation.................................................... 139
6.8 ExtendingtheDataRateTheorem................................... 140
6.9 AnotherPicture....................................................... 142
6.10 LargeDeviationsandEpileptiformDisorders ...................... 144
6.11 GroundStateCollapse1:Anxiety/DepressionAnalogs............ 145
6.12 GroundStateCollapse2:ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorders ....... 146
Contents xi
6.13 Topological Dysfunctions: Autism Spectrum
andSchizophreniformAnalogs...................................... 147
6.14 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 148
References.................................................................... 150
7 ToolsfortheFuture:HiddenSymmetries ............................... 153
7.1 Introduction........................................................... 153
7.2 TheCognitiveParadigmforGeneExpression...................... 155
7.3 TheGroupStructuresofInformationProcesses.................... 157
7.4 TheTopologyof“CodeNetworks” ................................. 158
7.5 ExpandingtheModel ................................................ 160
7.6 DevelopmentalCanalizationandDirectedHomotopy ............. 162
7.7 Discussion ............................................................ 163
References.................................................................... 164
8 PsychopathologiesofAutomataI:AutonomousVehicleSystems..... 167
8.1 Introduction........................................................... 167
8.2 CentralProblems..................................................... 168
8.3 DataRateTheorem................................................... 172
8.4 MultimodalTrafficonBadRoads................................... 174
8.5 TheDynamicsofServiceCollapse.................................. 175
8.6 MultiplePhasesofDysfunction ..................................... 177
8.7 Turbulence............................................................ 179
8.8 ReconsideringNetworkFlow........................................ 181
8.9 DirectedHomotopy .................................................. 184
8.10 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 186
References.................................................................... 188
9 Psychopathologies of Automata II: Autonomous Weapons
andCentaurSystems....................................................... 191
9.1 Introduction........................................................... 191
9.2 TheDataRateTheorem.............................................. 192
9.3 TheFog-of-WarEcosystem.......................................... 194
9.4 TheDynamicsofControlFailure ................................... 195
9.5 TheDynamicsofHigh-LevelCognitiveDysfunction.............. 197
9.6 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 199
References.................................................................... 199
10 TheDynamicsofEnvironmentalInsult.................................. 201
10.1 Introduction........................................................... 201
10.2 InstitutionalEvolution ............................................... 204
10.3 DiscussionandConclusions......................................... 207
References.................................................................... 208