Why gender differences in neuropsychiatry are theoretically important.

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   Neuropsychiatry is the study of mind-warping disturbances of the brain.  As is the case for several sectors of medicine such as endocrinology and immunology,  neuropsychiatry offers several opportunities for observing spectacular sex differences.   To the extent that neural causes (etiologies) of psychic disturbances are detected, accepted and understood,   neuropsychiatry can serve as a magnifying glass for interpreting sex differences in normal brain function.   Indeed,  disturbances of the brain which are relatively sex-specific often exaggerate underlying sex differences which occur as a "silent" baseline in normals.  Most men are more frequently angry than women and most women cry more frequently than men do.    Now imagine those traits exaggerated by a factor of ten:   there is a psychopath lurking inside nearly every man and a phobic depressive in nearly every woman.  Even more subtle personality differences between men and women get exaggerated in gender-typical psychiatric disorders.  For example,  one study found that  pathologically anxious patients had a high level of "external locus control" compared to normal control subjects.   External locus of control is a cognitive-moral-personality trait typical of women.  It consists of a sort of attitude of helplessness,  a sense of non-empowerment,  a feeling that others control one's destiny.  And of course,  the whole spectrum of anxiety disorders is more prevalent in the female sex.