Any evolutionary advantage to mental illness?

[spidergoat]

No, that's the truth.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

It's an interesting thought. I can't think of any universal condition that would favor a person with mental illness, except for the fact that some schizophrenics in ancient societies have become shamans or spiritual advisors.

Perhaps not universal, but consider that the American legal system discriminates against the sane. If I kill somebody, even for a very rational reason, the government might kill me. Especially if I were not white. If my Crazy Cousin Connie goes out and kills somebody just because it's Tuesday and he was wearing a blue shirt, the government will put her in a hospital until she becomes smart enough to convince them that she's cured. Then she can go out and have children.

It's a strange phenomenon that mental illness is often accompanied with excessive religiosity.

It doesn't seem so strange to me. I was raised in a household where religion was not discussed, so I never heard of it until I was seven or eight years old. I have never quite been able to understand how sane people can believe in it.

That's why homosexuality survives, sometimes they do breed in spite of everything.

Wasn't supposed to be funny.

Lots of gay people have children. For one thing, the intolerance they face in our Christian culture has caused many of them to deny their own nature and attempt to live a heterosexual lifestyle because not to do so would be "sinful." (Review my previous remark about the incompatibility of sanity with religion.) I know a gay man who was married, had five kids, was widowed, and became a very successful and beloved single parent before he finally came out of his own mental closet.

More importantly, there is absolutely no consensus that homosexuality is genetic. The latest reports I've read in the newspapers speak of influences in utero.

 

[spidergoat]

I don't believe in capital punishment, and it's not universal among all states. If you know what you are doing, if you are aware of reality, and you commit a serious crime anyway, that is worse that if it's committed by an insane person. You can't compare the two.

 

[Idle Mind]

Maybe that was the evolutionary advantage. It taught us to care about someone

I don't think this would be an advantage in small or developing communities (ie. ones that are not yet established), because the ones who are ill cost resources and energy to be cared for which may not necessarily be available. Caring for the week and enfeebled is more something that's come about in societies and populations that are well developed. Humans were likely already 'modern humans' from an evolutionary standpoint before this started taking place.

 

[w1z4rd]

I see ADHD and OCD as evolutionary attempts to increase the brain in a certain area. With ADHD I am able to multi task like a demon and really enjoy the ability. However you loose a lot of ability to be thorough and to easly finish tasks.

Ritalin solves that problem.