There seems to be a bit of replying to the wrong comment going on, but I'll comment here in response to you and the parent...
This line of argument is flawed because:
1) Plenty of depression, anxiety and of course ADHD occurs in childhood, while bipolar and schizophrenia more commonly occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood. Plenty of reproduction happens - particularly by men of course - at ages later than these when these illnesses can manifest (we can even see how some men with ADHD or bipolar tendencies have reproduced at higher rates than other men, and rationalise why this would have been the case through evolutionary history).
2) The suggestion that such widespread tendencies are in the gene pool only as an undesirable accident doesn't pass Occam's razer. We must assume they are there because they have been selected for, unless there is evidence to the contrary, which nobody in this whole thread has been able to offer.
3) We can easily see reasons why it has been beneficial to have some level of propensity for tendencies like depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar and even some schizophrenia in the gene pool.
_ywdj|5 years ago
This line of argument is flawed because:
1) Plenty of depression, anxiety and of course ADHD occurs in childhood, while bipolar and schizophrenia more commonly occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood. Plenty of reproduction happens - particularly by men of course - at ages later than these when these illnesses can manifest (we can even see how some men with ADHD or bipolar tendencies have reproduced at higher rates than other men, and rationalise why this would have been the case through evolutionary history).
2) The suggestion that such widespread tendencies are in the gene pool only as an undesirable accident doesn't pass Occam's razer. We must assume they are there because they have been selected for, unless there is evidence to the contrary, which nobody in this whole thread has been able to offer.
3) We can easily see reasons why it has been beneficial to have some level of propensity for tendencies like depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar and even some schizophrenia in the gene pool.
watwut|5 years ago
It is enough for them to not be much of obstacle or to not manifest symptoms all the time. That is enough for them to stay.