Why Left Handers Are Prone To Mental Problems?

Friday, April 27, 2012, 12:17

There are many myths about left handers. In ancient times they were considered weird and forced to change their orientation. Today, they are considered to be more creative and sometimes, more intelligent than right handers. Most of these myths are just generalised and are not found on any solid scientific truth. Though research has proved that lefties are quick thinkers, there is nothing to validate the claim that they smarter!

We are discussing all these minute details about left handers because a recent study at the Oxford university has proved that lefties are more prone to develop mental health problems in the due course of their life.

Kind Of Mental Illnesses

The research says that left handers are likely to develop personality disorders such as schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. Schizophrenia is a very wide spread mental health problem that every 1 in 100 people have. Sometimes, it goes undetected for years. To put in short, delusion, fear and phobia constitute to form a severe mental illness.

Why Left Handers?

Usually, the right side of the brain is associated with linguistic skills and speech, while the left side controls emotions. So basically, the right side of the brain has a cognitive function and the left has an emotive one. Left handers have a unique problem called brain lateralization. For lefties, these functions are reversed. This leads to a condition called 'brain asymmetry' which is one of the prime causes of mental health problems.

The Schizophrenic Gene

Not all left handers will be schizophrenic because brain asymmetry is just one of the causes of mental disorders; it is not the only one. About 20 per cent of schizophrenia patients are lefties. Though it is not an absolute number. There are several other factors that influence your mental stability.

'Left' Is A Way To Greatness

There is some concession for left handers. A good majority of famous people are left handed. Two consecutive USA presidents, George W Bush and Barack Obama are left handed. Some of the best musicians of our time like the Kurt Cobain and Jimmy Hendrix too were left handed. So lefties, there is no need to feel threatened!