Persistence of psychosis in the population: Τhe cost and the price for humanity

Psychiatrikē = Psychiatriki
O Giotakos

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a chronic and highly impairing condition that affects around 1% of the human population. Evolutionary theories lend support for the idea of a continuum approach to the diagnosis of psychosis. Subclinical psychotic-like experiences are relatively common in children and adolescents, occurring in about 17% of youths. The prevalence rate of psychotic symptoms in the general population is up to 8%, which is about ten times higher than the prevalence of diagnosed psychotic disorders. Some scientists have argued that there may be a shared genetic variation between illness and non-clinical psychotic- like symptom expression. The high prevalence of non-clinical psychotic symptoms in the population prompt neuroscientists to re-evaluate these symptoms in the light of evolutionary theory. The schizophrenia impaired physical health and reduced probability of reproduction raises an evolutionary puzzle. How does schizophrenia persist in the population at a stable prevalence rate? The question regarding what processes maintain the persistence of high heritable variation in relatively disadvantageous traits, such as schizotypy, in the general population, remains a universal challenge across the domains of psychiatric and evolut...Continue Reading

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