ABSTRACT
Many psychopathologists are often ambivalent about evolutionary theory. When it comes to exploring similarities in general biological structures between us and other animals, for some, this is almost a no-go area. However, gene-biological structures represent units of stored knowledge laid down over millions of years; they are our internal libraries that make biological life possible. The structure of our bodily form (two eyes, four limbs, the timing of sexual maturity, etc) and the potentialities of our socio-emotional lives are stored in our genes. When this knowledge is lost (i.e., words on the pages of our library books are missed out or misspelt) malformation often occurs. On the other hand, mental suffering is rarely the result of genetic error. Rather it is the activation of certain types of potential within us. Even those that suggest a genetic linkage with certain forms of suffering should not automatically posit disease or malformation. The evolution of mental mechanisms is not concerned with happiness or feeling good. For example, anxiety may feel bad but it evolved to regulate how danger is responded to. In certain kinds of environment those who have higher thresholds for anxiety and are cautious may survive better than those who have low thresholds. If we by-pass the biological we are ignoring a source of knowledge, or what Jung called the archetypal (Chapter 11). If we need at least a modicum of love, respect, and freedom from fear in order to prosper and flourish then we need these things by virtue of having become a certain kind of species (Chapter 10).
