I realize that a lot of people on Hacker News might consider this to be pseudoscience territory, but what about something like The Biology of Love by Arthur Janov?
His theory is that the primary cause of mental illness is intrauterine trauma, which negatively affects the structure of the emotional brain at a very crucial developmental stage. This trauma is undiagnosed and untreated in the newborn infant, and persists into adulthood, where it results in depression, addiction, panic attacks, etc.
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EDIT: asciilifeform, do you have some kind of axe to grind?
Anyways, here's a few links to scientific studies that support the relationship between intrauterine trauma and mental illness:
Relationship of maternal and perinatal conditions to eventual adolescent suicide
http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Love-Arthur-Janov/dp/157392829...
His theory is that the primary cause of mental illness is intrauterine trauma, which negatively affects the structure of the emotional brain at a very crucial developmental stage. This trauma is undiagnosed and untreated in the newborn infant, and persists into adulthood, where it results in depression, addiction, panic attacks, etc.
-----------------------------------------
EDIT: asciilifeform, do you have some kind of axe to grind?
Anyways, here's a few links to scientific studies that support the relationship between intrauterine trauma and mental illness:
Relationship of maternal and perinatal conditions to eventual adolescent suicide
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2857957
Obstetric care and proneness of offspring to suicide as adults: case-control study
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9812930
Controversial, yes. Without any scientific support, no.