Do you think paranoia and other mental illnesses help people survive extreme circumstances?

Asked by JLeslie (65416) February 10th, 2016 from iPhone

My paternal side of the family had a lot of mental illness in my grandfather’s generation. They went through some horrific circumstances as children, and as adults did not have it easy at all. Extreme poverty, difficult work conditions. I’m a big believer that environment is a huge factor in the development of a lot of mental illness, but I also do believe in a genetic component.

I was watching Schindler’s list last night (Gawd I wish I hadn’t) and it has me thinking that the people most paranoid maybe were more likely to survive, and so those genes pass forward to future generations. Those who obsessed about how to avoid violence or capture, maybe they more often survived too? Maybe their genetic wiring, and possibly intelligence, kept them alive.

I ruminate things too much and I feel more full of fear in the last few years. I just wonder if it’s a remnant of my family going through some really bad situations in history. I’m not paranoid like I think people are coming after me, or anything extreme like that, it’s more about my thought process lately, and my difficulty making decisions for fear of consequences. For whatever reason I’m amped up a little. Sometimes I can trace it to bring over medicated on my thyroid meds, but that’s not the whole problem.

What examples can you think of where the label of mental illness might actually be self preserving and an asset.