The role of neurosis in phylogenetic adaptation, with particular reference to early man

The author hypothesizes that neurosis results from maladaptation and leads to further maladaptation, thus creating a vicious cycle that can be viewed as having played a significant role in human evolution. Individuals who were less successful in the struggle for survival during prehistory would have been more likely to become neurotic, a maladaptation that would magnify existing genetically transmitted differences in their viability and affect both the choice of a mate and the viability of their offspring. This process would have accelerated human evolution by favoring the most viable. The author relates this theory to his concepts of assortative mating and to other theories of the role of neurosis.