Schizophrenia Causes Crazy-Cat-Lady-ism? Or Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia?

Since we're on the topic of whether gayness is biological or psychological in origin, I thought I'd post the fairly-old theory that schizophrenia is not caused by psychological trauma, but exposure to a virus in childhood.

This article suggests the virus may come from cats. Pregnant women, it says, might want to stay away from cats.

What's the old wives's tale about cats sucking the breath out of infants?

There are a lot of major "psychological" conditions, I think, that are essentially caused by genetics, hormones, defects in brain structure or chemistry, or physical disease. As Bob Hartleys' mentor revealed to him, "It's all a crock." At least as far as major characteristics or disorders.

PS: "Talking about things" doesn't help anything either. It's diplomacy with yourself, and about as effective as typical diplomacy, too.

Correction: The cat-schizophrenia link described in that article not a viral one (the bug here is a bacterium), but there are theories about a viral cause. This just isn't one of them. Thanks to Botec.

Here's One on the Actual Viral Theory: From WebMD.

Actually, it's about the interaction of genetics and infection... kind of apropros.

posted by Ace at 04:45 PM

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