Kealiiaumoku Klein
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The causes of mental illnesses are complex and inadequately understood. They cannot be pinned down to a single source but, rather, arise from the interplay of biological, psychological, sociocultural, and interpersonal systems. Advances in neuroimaging have greatly influenced the prevailing view that states of psychopathology have a neurobiological basis linked to changes in the brain. Within this domain, genetics play a significant role in the development of psychiatric disorders. The observation that mental illnesses are a heritable trait has long been known, but the implementation of modern research methodologies – in particular, genome-wide association studies – has corroborated this fact at the molecular level through the discovery of single nucleotide polymorphisms (Smoller et al., 2018).
While genes may represent the nature end of the dialectical nature vs. nurture argument, early childhood experiences and its correlates encompass the opposite end and are known to greatly influence the development of psychiatric disorders. For example, it is well-known that early childhood experiences largely shape the adult psyche. Exposure to traumas such as bullying, abuse, maltreatment, and parental loss are strongly correlated with the occurrence of mental illness later in life (McKay et al., 2021). Along these lines, maladaptive behavior and poor resilience in the face of stress and adversity – skills often learned in childhood – may exacerbate a psychiatric illness or trigger the co-occurrence of parallel disorders like depression or anxiety (Afek et al., 2021).
From the broader view, sociocultural and interpersonal dynamics influence the development, presentation, classification, and assessment of mental disorders, functioning as couriers of meaning and value (Cheung & Mak, 2018). Viewing mental illness through a culture-centric lens, such as with the theory of cultural relativism, can help explain the frequency and variability of symptoms seen in a diverse ecosystem of overlapping cultures. Along the same vein, social factors become increasingly relevant in the development of mental disorders as health disparities exist between economic classes. Social determinants of mental health such as poverty, food security, neighborhood/community impacts, trauma, and racism disproportionately affecting marginalized groups plays a significant role in psychopathology (Abraham & Walker-Harding, 2022).
References
Abraham, A., & Walker-Harding, L. (2022). The key social determinants of mental health: their effects among children globally and strategies to address them: a narrative review. Pediatric Medicine, 5, 77. https://doi.org/10.21037/pm-20-78
Afek, A., Ben-Avraham, R., Davidov, A., Berezin Cohen, N., Ben Yehuda, A., Gilboa, Y., & Nahum, M. (2021). Psychological Resilience, Mental Health, and Inhibitory Control Among Youth and Young Adults Under Stress. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.608588Links to an external site.
Cheung, F. M., & Mak, W. W. S. (2018). Sociocultural factors in psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & J. M. Hooley (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Psychopathology: Understanding, assessing, and treating adult mental disorders., Vol. 1. (pp. 127147). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000064-006
McKay, M. T., Cannon, M., Chambers, D., Conroy, R. M., Coughlan, H., Dodd, P., Healy, C., ODonnell, L., & Clarke, M. C. (2021). Childhood trauma and adult mental disorder: A systematic review and metaanalysis of longitudinal cohort studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 143(3), 189205. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13268
Smoller, J. W., Andreassen, O. A., Edenberg, H. J., Faraone, S. V., Glatt, S. J., & Kendler, K. S. (2018). Psychiatric genetics and the structure of psychopathology. Molecular Psychiatry, 24(3), 409420. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-017-0010-4
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