OnHealth Environment Affects Mental Illness

[Guest guest]

Environment Affects Mental Illness

Recent research about mental health largely has focused on genetics,

but one scientist says that people often overlook the huge influence that

environment can have on psychiatric disorders.

Overwhelming negative circumstance can place seemingly " normal " people

at risk for mental health problems, says Bruce P. Dohrenwend of the New York

State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University in New York City.

Although genetic factors play a powerful role in the potential development

of mental disorders, they are often not the only cause, he writes in the

March issue of Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Dohrenwend points to on-going research that looks at three types of

environmental influences. One type is where normal, healthy people are

exposed to overwhelming negative circumstances, such as war, and can suffer

post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric problems. The second

research area looks at people exposed to chronic negative circumstances,

such as poverty. And the third type of research suggests a strong

association between social factors and low socioeconomic status and the

prevalence of depression in women and alcoholism and substance abuse among

men.

All three types of research, Dohrenwend says, point to the same

conclusion: The greater the uncontrollable negative circumstances, the

greater the chance the person is at risk for psychiatric problems.

Daily Briefings by Katrina Woznicki

http://onhealth.com/ch1/briefs/item,85708.asp