FWD: Schizophrenia 'helped the ascent of man'

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>Date:         Mon, 19 Mar 2001 13:49:42 -0500
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>Subject:      Schizophrenia 'helped the ascent of man' [evol-psych] (fwd)
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>From: "Ian Pitchford" <ian.pitchford at scientist.com>
>Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 10:44:20 -0000
>
>
>THE OBSERVER
>Schizophrenia 'helped the ascent of man'
>Scientist says gene mutation is key to genius and despair
>
>Robin McKie, science editor
>Observer
>
>Sunday March 18, 2001
>
>Tiny mutations in our ancestors' brain cells triggered mankind's takeover of
>the world 100,000 years ago. But these changes also cursed our species to
>suffer from schizophrenia and depression.
>
>This is the controversial claim by biochemist David Horrobin in a
>new book, The
>Madness of Adam & Eve: How schizophrenia shaped humanity, to be published by
>Bantam Press next month.
>
>Horrobin - who is medical adviser to the Schizophrenia Association of Great
>Britain - argues that the changes which propelled humanity to its current
>global ascendancy were the same as those which have left us vulnerable to
>mental disease.
>
>Full text:
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4154224,00.html
>
>____
>
>Synopsis
>
>This volume presents an argument which aims to fundamentally alter our view 
of
>the roots of humanity and answer questions of how a species of clever ape
>evolved into something different. Schizophrenia is the only illness
>to be found
>in equal measure in all racial groups, pointing to the fact that the disease
>must have been present at the dawn of mankind before the races diversified 
and
>spread from Africa throughout Eurasia and Australasia. The book aims to 
reveal
>how the genetic legacy of schizophrenia is at the heart of the best and worst
>of human achievement.


Kurt-Werner Pörtner