In a breakthrough study, scientists have discovered that a variant in one gene, GRIN2A, can directly cause mental illness – something previously believed to be the result of several mutations working together. What's more, these conditions often present in childhood instead of more commonly during…
Anxiety, hypervigilance, hypersensitivity to social cues would have been very helpful in intelligent social creatures not yet at the top of the food chain. Similar arguments could even be made for schizophrenia, which presents differently and generally more positively in preindustrial societies, perhaps serving as an inspiring “shaman” like creator of cultural understanding of the world. Depression might be a way of preserving energy under periods of stress, etc.
Anxiety, hypervigilance, hypersensitivity to social cues would have been very helpful in intelligent social creatures not yet at the top of the food chain. Similar arguments could even be made for schizophrenia, which presents differently and generally more positively in preindustrial societies, perhaps serving as an inspiring “shaman” like creator of cultural understanding of the world. Depression might be a way of preserving energy under periods of stress, etc.