The Specialized Mind (How Neurodiversity Evolved and Why It's Essential to Human Success)

Welcome to an entirely new view of humanity—one where neurodiversity is at the very heart of our story.

Psychiatry has a secret. Despite billions of dollars in research and decades of study, it has taken us no closer to understanding what causes common mental disorders. The “chemical imbalance” theory has crumbled. The search for “broken brains” has hit a dead end. The reason? Many of the most frequently diagnosed “disorders” aren’t simple diseases at all. They’re a result of human evolution.

In The Specialized Mind, leading expert Dr. Adam Hunt draws on cutting-edge research from the new field of evolutionary psychiatry to reveal how the conditions we pathologize in the modern day are caused by helpful psychological systems, often misfitted to our world or carrying vulnerabilities to harmful manifestations. This pioneering work shows how behind each of seven “disorders”—autism, ADHD, dyslexia, schizophrenia, anxiety, anorexia, and psychopathy—is a cognitive difference that was essential to the development and continued success of the human race.

The Specialized Mind takes a fresh look at the history of the human brain with:

• Contemporary and historical case studies, such as Old Grandfather Nikitin, an unusually withdrawn Siberian reindeer herder who was revered by his tribe for his encyclopedic knowledge of 2,600 reindeer in a way familiar to those on the autism spectrum
• The surprising ways in which even the most disabling of these disorders relate to spectrums of thinking which were essential to hunter-gatherer life
• How today's world makes life difficult for people with these conditions, and how this evolutionary knowledge could inspire transformation in schools, workplaces, and wider society.
• A radical reimagining of the future of mental health research and care.

The Specialized Mind is a pioneering work of nonfiction that fundamentally changes the way we think about neurodiversity, and about humanity.