1 in 5 americans have a mental illiness (or so I read on FB)

[fromderinside]

I'd take issue with a blanket statement that there are no measurable physical indicators of mental illness. PET scans and fMRIs of the brain show clear irregularities in blood flow, neural 'wiring' and reactions to stimuli. MRIs often reveal anatomical irregularities. Lab tests show abnormalities in neurotransmitters and even routine blood tests often show abnormal catecholamine and steroid production or metabolism. Even such crude contraptions as polygraphs have revealed unique response patterns in certain demographics.

As has been pointed out, what is a dysfunctional abnormality in one situation may be be a selective advantage in another. In a tribe of hunter gatherers a few hyperactive, hypervigilant individuals (ADHD) might be the best hunters and the first to notice something dangerous along the path. Homosexual males might make good camp guards when the hunters are out, or bodyguards for foraging groups of women.
In Chimpanzees, marginal individuals exhibiting symptoms we would label depressive, function as sentries on the periphery of the band.

I think you are trying to answer a question with two points of view. First you use norms akin to those gained by dropping microphones above 7th and Broadway in NYC then you find another microphone and drop it into a pool of nucleic acid and wave a dousing stick over it to divine relative fitness.

My point is we don't have nearly enough information to even denote what the the ADHD complex is , much less to know the prognostic values of such as fMRI or genetic technologies with regard to these issues.

As for Chimpanzee, Bonobo and other social primates their patterns are much too different, at the same time much too near, to be used as exemplars for any kind of cogent decision making about mental illness.

Since the advent of sociobiology comparative psychobiology has been left to die a slow death. The main thing lost in analytic scientific statements seems to be that models need be established across species lineages and between species lineages before one reaches out for examples and exemplars. the main point of these points is that both within lineage and between lineage contrasts are necessary for useful prognostic decisions.

 

[Valjean]

Actually I was answering two, separate questions. My points:
One: there are measurable anatomical and physiological abnormalities coinciding with "mental illness."
Two: What is dysfunctional in modern society may well have been a functional variation during the majority of our species' time on Earth. These variations may be hard-wired in us.

 

[Duke Leto]

Personally, I'm more concerned that 1 in 5 Americans score less than the 20th Percentile in math aptitude.

Or that in my lifetime the average comprehension and reading level had gone from 7th to 5th grade.

There was a slight bit of irony in my statement that may have slipped past you, joedad.

 

[fromderinside]

Actually I was answering two, separate questions. My points:
One: there are measurable anatomical and physiological abnormalities coinciding with "mental illness."
Two: What is dysfunctional in modern society may well have been a functional variation during the majority of our species' time on Earth. These variations may be hard-wired in us.

You are giving permissions to charlatans. There are anatomical and physiological pathology believed to be abnormal according to incomplete and very weak presumptions. They may not be sound presumptions since shifting abnormality is the point made by your second question. Any society, western for example, that consistently has more supply than needed demand is operating outside the bounds of defined selective fitness. That being the case, evidence derived from such societies, is probably not consistent with evolutionary principles since they fall outside parameters used by that theory. Any medicine, prescriptive, that presumes normalcy when it cannot be supported by current theory is building upon a shifting sands.

My input is no less circular than your input Would you rather use my presumptions than yours. That's a shame. I still like my view.

 

[fromderinside]

Or that in my lifetime the average comprehension and reading level had gone from 7th to 5th grade.

There was a slight bit of irony in my statement that may have slipped past you, joedad.

Irony seems to be leaking undetected by both posters.

 

[Valjean]

Actually I was answering two, separate questions. My points:
One: there are measurable anatomical and physiological abnormalities coinciding with "mental illness."
Two: What is dysfunctional in modern society may well have been a functional variation during the majority of our species' time on Earth. These variations may be hard-wired in us.

You are giving permissions to charlatans. There are anatomical and physiological pathology believed to be abnormal according to incomplete and very weak presumptions. They may not be sound presumptions since shifting abnormality is the point made by your second question. Any society, western for example, that consistently has more supply than needed demand is operating outside the bounds of defined selective fitness. That being the case, evidence derived from such societies, is probably not consistent with evolutionary principles since they fall outside parameters used by that theory. Any medicine, prescriptive, that presumes normalcy when it cannot be supported by current theory is building upon a shifting sands.

My input is no less circular than your input Would you rather use my presumptions than yours. That's a shame. I still like my view.

 

[Speakpigeon]

1 in 5 americans have a mental illiness

Look at your four closest friends.

If they seem normal, then it's you.

If you have a nagging suspicion that it's you, even before checking on people around you, then it's you.

PS. Many mental illnesses are not immediately apparent. That may be good for you because your friends may be less well than they look. Then again, you may also be less well than you think.

PPS. One problem is that 1 in 5 doctors may have a mental illness themselves. Or more.
EB

 

[fromderinside]

My input is no less circular than your input Would you rather use my presumptions than yours. That's a shame. I still like my view.