Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:543-547
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
The role of neurosis in phylogenetic adaptation, with particular reference to early man
L Sloman
The author hypothesizes that neurosis results from maladaptation and leads
to further maladaptation, thus creating a vicious cycle that can be viewed
as having played a significant role in human evolution. Individuals who
were less successful in the struggle for survival during prehistory would
have been more likely to become neurotic, a maladaptation that would
magnify existing genetically transmitted differences in their viability and
affect both the choice of a mate and the viability of their offspring. This
process would have accelerated human evolution by favoring the most viable.
The author relates this theory to his concepts of assortative mating and to
other theories of the role of neurosis.
