What are Etiologic factors of mental illness?
There is no identified single definite cause for mental illness. Mental illnesses are caused by one or more of the following factors.
- Genetic factors: abnormalities in chromosomes can cause mental illness. Children from mentally ill parents are more likely to develop mental illnesses than children of healthy parents.
- Following organic illnesses: Disease of cerebrovascular system, nervous system, endocrine system and illnesses such as epilepsy are associated with mental illnesses.
- Social and environmental problems: poverty, tension, emotional stress, occupational and financial difficulties, unhappy marriage, broken homes, abuse and neglect, population mobility, changes in life due to natural disasters like earthquakes, flood and epidemics are associated.
- Psychological factors: early age experiences of abuse and other psychological trauma during childhood play an important role in the development of mental illness as an adult.
- Behavioral factors: indulging in drugs, alcohol and substances are associated with mental illness.
- Nutritional deficiency
- Infections before and after delivery and birth trauma;
- Accidents which cause head injury:
- Drug and Radiation accidents in early period of neural development in the womb.