What do you think is the main cause of mental illness?

[Dsg1193]

Is it bc of a chemical imbalance that may or may not been passed down by family or is it situational based off your experience (s)?

Nature (genetics)

Nurture (environment)

[Avcfhcic]

Mental illnesses are very poorly studied to identify what the real cause is, but based on the treatments we use for mental illnesses, I would say it's mainly down to the environment and an adaptation of the person causing hormone alterations in the brain, since treatments look to either enhance or block neurotransmitters.

I think people who go into dark places happen over a long time rather than suddenly. And their brain adapts over time and leads to mental illness, but it is reversible

[Truth0225]

Mental illness is a mix of the two. I say that because chemical imbalances do contribute to things like depression and anxiety. However, a lot of mental illnesses derive from our experiences. For instance PTSD is related to experiencing some sort of trauma, and triggers exacerbate it.

[msc545]

There are many different causes of depressive symptoms, not just a single one. There are also many different treatments, some of which work for some people and some of which work for others. Pharmacological treatments seem to work for a small minority of people. Other kinds of environmental treatments seem to work better. But there is no one single solution that solves this problem every single time. Therefore, treatments have to be carefully and methodically tailored to the individual patient and treatment can be very prolonged.

[DannyJ332]

Hello, I believe that mental and physical health are equally important. For example, I had a period in my life when I simply stopped doing sports, dieting and stopped leading an active lifestyle, I gained weight very quickly (I suffered from excess weight when I was a child) I began to suffer mentally, my self-esteem decreased a lot. It even reached depression. Of course, the fact that I started exercising and went on a diet helped to overcome the excess weight, but the health problems remained and I go to I got checked, found out the cause of my illnesses and was successfully treated, and all my psychological problems were also resolved.

[gorydetails]

The concept of a ‘chemical imbalance’ causing mental illness is junk science.

[Jennz6]

It’s in your jeans lol

[Anonymous]

Chemical imbalance.