Mental Illness: Causes Beyond Mood & Thinking - Research Paper

Introduction

Mental illnesses are changes in one's psychological status that results in a significant alteration in the moods and behaviors of individuals that are associated with a feeling of impaired functioning and distress. Although some authors argue that changes in the mood and thinking are the leading causes of mental illness, the sense of isolation, loneliness, and disconnection to people and certain lifestyle activities also contribute immensely to the condition (Chiu, Lebenbaum, Newman, Zaheer & Kurdyak, 2016). Other factors that are closely linked to mental illnesses include biological, economic, psychological, and genetic factors. Research has shown that about a half of the Canadian population suffers from mental illness with more than a quarter of the remaining population un-aware of their mental conditions because they have not discussed it with their health care professionals (Creamer & Austin, 2017). Canada has witnessed increasing numbers of mental illness cases affecting people of diverse age groups ranging from adolescents to young adults and elderly people across the country.

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Causes of Increased Mental Illness in Canada

The increasing cases of mental illness in Canada have been attributed to many factors (Fung, Liu, Sin, Bender, Shakya, Butt & Wong, 2019). For instance, research indicates that mental illness is an interaction between the biological, personality, and the psychological environment (Hansson, Tuck, Lurie & McKenzie, 2012). However, the brain is the center for behavior and cognition control in the human body; thus, the changes in these factors significantly influence the brain and may lead to mental illness (Gilmour, 2014). Furthermore, genetic and environmental factors have also been linked to the increasing mental illness cases in Canada (Goldner, Bilsker & Jenkins, 2016). Mental illness has been found to increase in persons with a close history of family mental illness thus showing that genetics could play an essential role in the increased mental illness cases in Canada (Whitley & Wang, 2017).

Increased mental illness cases in Canada can also be attributed to environmental factors such as the socioeconomic status of a person as well as the work pressures and family situations. All these environmental factors cause the recurrence of the mental illness in the affected individuals (Chiu et al., 2016). The choices of the lifestyle patterns have also been identified to have a positive correlation with mental illness such that the learned patterns and the lifestyle choices influence the course and the aftermath of mental illness within various affected individuals (Whitley & Wang, 2017).

Physical Health and Mental Illness

There is a relationship between physical and mental illness among Canadians (Whitley & Wang, 2017). For instance, physical injuries and deformations of the body tissues could result into depression and stigma that consequently causes much increase in the mental illness among the affected individuals (Hansson, Tuck, Lurie & McKenzie, 2012). It is also reported that Canadians with chronic physical conditions have twice increased the likelihood of undergoing anxiety and mood disorder compared to those without chronic physical conditions (Creamer & Austin, 2017).

Again, the people who are living with physical health problems usually experience increased depression and anxiety, which is almost twice the rates in the general population (Fung et al., 2019). However, the joint effects of the physical conditions and the mental illness lower the quality of life significantly and worsen the health outcomes (Whitley & Wang, 2017). Emotional and physiological processes, as well as the socioeconomic factors such as housing and income, seriously affect the body and the mind (Gilmour, 2014). The interlinkage between biology social determinants of health and the illness has increased the likelihood of mental illness and co-existence of chronic physical condition (Whitley & Wang, 2017).

Poverty and Mental Illness

Studies conducted in Canada indicate that there are cases of mental illnesses among the poor members of the society as compared to the rich (Goldner, Bilsker & Jenkins, 2016). For instance, poverty results in hopelessness despair and anger resulting from lack of opportunities, thus leading to an increased likelihood of traumatic stress. The traumatic stress then has a direct correlation to the mental illness (Madi, Zhao & Li, 2007). However, it is essential to note that a majority of the poor Canadians do not have mental illnesses thus suggesting that poverty could not be the only cause of mental illness and that there could be additional social causations.

According to the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health (2012), it was noted that over 2.8 million people (more than 10% of the population) aged 15 years and above were exposed to mental illnesses. These were comparable to the substance use disorders that had been experienced in the previous year (Whitley & Wang, 2017). Again, it was estimated that 1 in 5 Canadians would experience mental illness throughout their lifetime.

Genetics and Mental Illness

Some of the mental illness cases in Canada are hereditary and thus run through the families (Whitley & Wang, 2017). People who come from families with a history of mental illness have a high likelihood of developing mental illness (Creamer & Austin, 2017). The susceptibility to the mental illness in such families is transferred through the genes. Studies indicate that the mental illnesses are linked not only to one abnormality within the genes but rather a series of anomalies in the genetic make-up of the individuals that interact with the environment (Gilmour, 2014).

The genes and the environment also interact to cause mental illness are unique from one person to the other (Knaak, Mantler & Szeto, 2017, March). Therefore, a person only develops the susceptibility to mental illness but not the actual disease due to the variations in the interactions between the genes and the environment (Livingston, Patel, Bryson, Hoong, Morrow & Guruge, 2018). In essence, the mental illness then develops due to the interaction between the susceptible genes with other factors such as the traumatic events, stress, and abuse, which subsequently trigger disease in the person who had inherited the susceptibility (McMartin, Kingsbury, Dykxhoorn & Colman, 2014).

Substance Abuse, Infections and Mental Illness

In 2012, it was reported that over 2.8 million Canadians aged 15 and above have a mental illness because of the abuse of and over-dependence on alcohol, cannabis and other drugs (Guruge, Fung, Sidani, Este, Morrow, McKenzie & Wong, 2018). The long period of drug exposure has been seriously linked to anxiety and depression that has a strong positive correlation with mental illness. Therefore, a majority of the youths in Canada are suffering from mental illness due to drug abuse (Lesage, Rochette, Emond, Pelletier, St-Laurent, Diallo, & Kisely, 2015).

Furthermore, some infections of the human body are linked to brain damages and mental illness development (Whitley & Berry, 2013). The diseases also contribute to the worsening of mental illness symptoms. For instance, the pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder in Canada has been viewed as a significant cause of the mental illness among the children (Lesage et al., 2015). Moreover, specific injuries and damages to the brain have also been linked to mental illnesses in Canada (Goldner, Bilsker & Jenkins, 2016). Prenatal damages were also noted as minor causes of brain illness in Canada due to inadequate oxygen supply to the brain (Guruge et al., 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the causes of mental illness have been on the increase in Canada because of several reasons. Such causes of increased mental illnesses include drug abuse, heredity, physical injuries to the body and the brain as well as prenatal damages that result in an inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain. Infections and other environmental conditions, such as depression and stress, have also led to increased mental illness cases in Canada.

References

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