[mwidell]

Could it be that everything we call mental illness is just natural variation of people's psyche, at the ends of the bell curve?

Many of the mental illnesses are of course bad, but in an evolutionary perspective it makes sense that we have these variations in a population, to optimise adaptation.

[AlecSchueler]

What do you mean by "natural variation?" A great many of mental health issues develop as a result of trauma. You could say that a broken leg is a natural variation of a leg, as it happens naturally as the result of physical trauma, but does that help you understand it or treat it better?

[mwidell]

I mean natural variation as in genes. Trauma often triggers mental health problems, but there usually needs to be genetic susceptibility as a foundation for it to happen.

[Fraterkes]

I mean, sickle cell is arguably a "natural genetic variation" but we very much treat it like a disease.