The Shaman Among Us: A Genomic Explainer of Schizophrenia
Dr. Joseph Polimeni explores the radical evolutionary theory that the genetic foundations of psychosis were once vital social and religious assets.
In the landscape of modern medicine, schizophrenia is often regarded as the ultimate tragedy—a "textbook bad disorder" that erodes insight, disrupts cognition, and carries a prognosis that many psychiatrists view with a sense of clinical resignation. But what if the genetic foundations of this condition are not merely biological errors, but remnants of a vital evolutionary specialization? In a far-reaching conversation on the *Evolving Psychiatry* podcast, Dr. Joseph Polimeni, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and author of *The Shaman Among Us*, argues for a radical paradigm shift. He suggests that the biological foundation underpinning schizophrenia is the same foundation that produces shamans in traditional societies. From this perspective, psychosis is not just a pathology, but a "phenotype" that was once an essential occupational role for human survival.