Mentally ill.

Most likely, a bit of both.



What do you mean?

One can only lead on from the other.
Prevailing wind.

Can you pick it? Does it pick you?

That's a really interesting question right now. We are just emerging from a period when the extremely dominant explanation was genetic....but are now moving back to a more nuanced analysis where genes and circumstances combine....

Also depends on what you mean by "mental illness". Are you speaking of Axis 1 diagnoses, like schizophrenia, bi-polar and the like?

If so, as far as I know, the genetics are looking crucial, and the discussion is about whether negative life circumstances may have a role in whether the gene is expressed, and to what extent it is expressed.

With personality disorders, there seem to be some who believe they are purely genetic, but I see very little good evidence of that, and I am mainly seeing that position taken in the US...which has a real dominance of medicalisation of pretty much everything, or so it seems from here.

Epigenetics and the increasing evidence of brain plasticity are also shaking up the debate.


I'm with Robert...I think both...with a preponderance or absolute of dominance of one or the other in some cases.

Maybe it's an acrequirement.

I'm not a professional - more like a paraprofessional with more experience than education, so get your salt - but I believe that most major mental illnesses have a biological component or marker that either IS or IS NOT "set off" by circumstances.

We know bi-polar has a genetic component, but obviously not everyone in the family suffers from it. Certain mental illnesses are more likely to strike in certain families.

Can a stable home environment or well-developed coping mechanisms "ward off" a serious eruption of mental illness? I think so.

I would think that some is genetic, some is circumstantial, some is a combination.

In my view (which isn't at all professional)
Schizophrenia seems to be mostly genetic.
Bi-Polar seems to have a combination of genetic & circumstantial
Depression seems to be mostly circumstantial
One would have to say that anorexia is all circumstantial
Delusions are a tough one...very delusional people do have things going haywire with their chemicals that they have no control over

I lived with two friends a long time ago. One of them was considered by our group of friends to be an extremely gentle guy. About 6 months in, he started having intermittent bouts of barely being able to control his anger (without resorting to violence). The other two of us were wondering if we'd be safe sleeping...as it turns out he had a mild form of schizophrenia and never knew it. It was sorted out with medication.

Why assume that genetics and circumstance are, in any way, mutually exclusive?

i'm not trying to be snarky, i'm basically trying to allude to the same complicated knot of analyses that dlowan is referring to.

But by the same token (geez, i'm about to come off as a pedantic jerk), i'm not saying that it is a bit of both, but that rather the line of thought by which the two (genetics and circumstance) are distinguishable, while sometimes useful, is not necessarily representative.

I suppose it depends on the type of psychosis. Schizophrenia seems to be genetic and tends to appear in one's teens. But I've often heard the opinion that circumstances function as triggers. I don't think there is certain knowledge regarding the nature of most mental activity sane or insane.
I too hope I don't sound like a pedantic jerk.
I wrote the above before reading Vikorr's post--which sounds basic correct.

I agree. To expound on these thoughts I think it's helpful to understand that mental disorder is not the binary popular image most have of it, it's usually a matter of degree. Many times a genetic condition's effect on one's life can be exacerbated by situational factors, pushing it over the line towards a pathology.

And yes, it's a moving target too, not a "solved" problem in a "hard" science.

Madness is when the excesses of one's personality interfere with the lives of yourself and others to a sufficient degree that they decide to do something about it. And how society defines this line has been shown to itself influence madness (see recent studies on the "Westernization" of madness).

Yes, an important point: the role of society in labeling deviant and deviant behavior.

In a way, that is the whole point.

Mental illness is a pretty vague term. It is used to describe behavior and thought patterns that are harmful to the individual. You can be as crazy as you want to be, but so long as it doesn't harm you in any way (harming others being a way to harm oneself), you are not mentally ill.

That said, when we look at the behavior and thought patterns that are considered 'healthy' today, and we see what they do to people's mental health, the term 'mental illness' becomes even more ambiguous. People smoke, eat unhealthy food, worry about trivialities and chase shortsighted ideals. It is what we are taught to do. People spend their health to get loads of money, then they spend the money to get their health back. And that's just those who are not mentally ill...

...hehehe well put, this one made me laugh a great deal...indeed people are really very prone to suggestion, and very limited in their decision making...

I believe everyone has a point at which they "crack."
If you are harassed, tortured and abused enough, you will crack and become mentally ill. You can no longer control your stress, your thoughts, or perhaps even your bowels. While that meets the definition of mentally ill, that doesn't mean it's abnormal. Mental illness can be a normal response to an insane situation. Look for instance at the large numbers of once-healthy young men and women who come back from war with PTSD, which is a mental illness.

Mental illness can also be genetic or chemically induced. There have been many "separated twins" studies to show a genetic link when both twins have the same mental illness despite growing up in separate families with no knowledge of each other. So too, children who are exposed to lead, radiation, alcohol, or other toxins can have mental illnesses caused by these factors.

http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19552701571.html;jsessionid=D299D7746CCCEDA13A1C66524AF4735B

I do know in the soviet union being a beliver in democacy was considered a mental illness and also in soviet union you dont watch tv, tv watches you

Depends on the illness. Some can be aquired as with what used to be called split ersonality disorder (now called disassociative disorders) as a result of ssevere traumas, others like addicitions are usually aquired. Others like schizophrenia are genetic and not aquired.

None are aquired in the sense that you got it like a germ through close contact though.

I used to think the same but now I see things a little different. There is a certain strain of encephalitis that can turn a little boy into the devil and put a grown woman to sleep for months. Chase Manhattan's wife was a sleep for along time because of this. From my studies it is all environmental but it depends upon which environment,
"The environment before birth our genes and molecules are subjected to or this environment after birth that our genes and bodies are subjected to.

The word of the day pragmatism.

There are actually a number of contagious diseases that cause mental illness. One of the best known is syphilis, which, if not treated, often becomes neurosyphilis, infecting the nervous system including the brain.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1169231-overview

Meningitis and encephalitis are also common transmissible brain diseases that cause mental illness. They can be transmitted by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/encephalitis_meningitis/detail_encephalitis_meningitis.htm

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which destroys the brain, is also contagious (though not highly so) and has been transmitted by surgical instruments, transplants, and possibly by blood transfusions.
http://memory.ucsf.edu/cjd/overview/contagion

Rabies is a contagious viral infectious disease that causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord thus causing "madness." It is primarily transmitted through saliva/bites and contact with infected animal matter/brain tissue.
http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/brain-spinal-cord-and-nerve-disorders/brain-infections/rabies

Mad cow disease is also infectious, and is transmitted by prion proteins in the blood. It is related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease but the medical community generally thinks it is not transmissible from cattle to humans.
http://www.bseinfo.org/rotateslideb.aspx

Many other diseases such as cancer and ebola also have a profound effect on the brain, but their effects on the body and in causing death tend to overshadow their effects on the mind.

Thank you for sharing Banana Breath. I hope that others can experience the joy of others showing you to be wrong as I can. This is when I rejoice in my new understanding.

That's not the same thing. That's like saying a blow the head is contagious.

I was not suggesting that the way you blow the head is contagious. I am sorry but I seem to misunderstand.