I am curious whether or not it would be useful and practical to posit that all mental illness–from the very minor, such as pettiness, jealousy and irritability, up to major depression and even psychotic episodes–stems ultimately either from a lack of love and social connection, and/or organic nervous system defects, particularly in the brain.
I think so.
What makes this not obvious is that quite often the love needed was needed at a certain point, perhaps when that child was born, or when it was 2 or when it was 4. Some children emerge into physical adulthood never having felt loved by anyone at all. This has consequences, obviously, but they are cloaked in a myriad of ways, through manias, addictions, narcissism, physical illness, and others.
The question becomes, logistically, how can we allow the part or parts which are so thirsty to identify themselves in a social way, and how can we then provide the love which was missing? This is a simple, but enormously important question, and one which cannot be answered easily.