The misconception of the causes of mental illness may be an important antecedent for the pervasive negative attitudes towards mentally ill patients.
See mental disorder: Types and causes of mental disorders.
Studies show that unemployment and mounting debts are among the biggest causes of mental illness.
Meanwhile, too many of the root causes of mental health problems continue to grow.
Iodine deficiency is one of the main causes of mental impairment in children.
Research into the causes of mental disorders has shown the importance of social factors in the family and elsewhere.
But as a society there's little we can do to tackle the causes of mental ill health on a biological level.
And it doesn't mean that we don't need to address the causes of mental illness, such as poverty, stress, and lack of social support.
But Professor Sir Simon Wessely, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and chair of psychological medicine at King's College London, said it was wrong to suggest psychiatry was focused only on the biological causes of mental distress.
Foetal alcohol damage is seen on a spectrum – foetal alcohol spectrum disorder – and is one of the largest undiagnosed causes of mental health problems and behavioural issues in this country.
The fact that quite different therapeutic approaches can produce equal improvements in different patients with the same type of disorder underscores the complex and ambiguous nature of the causes of mental illness.
