What Are the Roots of the Problem?
ARE you enjoying good mental health? If so, you have reason to be thankful. Still it would be wise for you to know some of the basic factors that could cause you to lose this prized possession. It is not enough to know about things that can “trigger” mental illness, such as sudden tragedy, severe sickness, loss of job, and similar things. For these to bring on mental illness there must first be underlying conditions that contribute to the loss of balance.
These root causes might be said to fall into three basic categories: (1) the social fabric or “environment,” which includes relations with others, economic conditions, and so forth; (2) biological factors, including such things as heredity and metabolism; and (3) personality flaws.
The “Environmental” Factor
The environment can be said to play a major role in mental illness because of the stresses and pressures of modern living. This is so widely recognized that Langner and Michael have written a large volume, Life Stress and Mental Health, dealing with just this subject. Similarly, Dr. Karl Evang of Norway says: “Although large numbers of people are able to resist some of the most feared bodily diseases, almost everyone seems susceptible to mental illness if the strains and pressures are strong enough and the social climate is sufficiently unfavourable.”
Also recognizing environment as a factor is a caption appearing in The Schizophrenias—Yours and Mine. It reads: “What May Schizophrenics Do to Diminish Stress?” In answer it says: “Move to a desert island, or become a hermit!” But then it adds, “These escapes . . . are becoming harder to find.”
The mental health that can accompany an escape from daily modern pressures is testified to by the example of the men operating the isolated Weather Bureau station atop Mount Washington, New Hampshire, said to have the world’s worst weather. Expressing why these men prefer to live there, one of them says: “There are no pressures, no traffic, no bosses breathing down your neck. We’ve all given up higher paying jobs for this work. People think we’re mad but we’re not. . . . We’re at peace with the world.”
Among other basic environmental factors that can be underlying causes of mental illness are hostility, broken homes, poverty and racial discrimination. In this category must also be listed selfish ambition and greed on the part of the parents, which is likely to harm the young.
With old age comes another kind of “environment” that can well become a root of mental illness. Dr. Evang describes in this way the characteristic “environment” of the aged that is so damaging: “The lack of meaningful activity, the feeling of being forgotten, isolation from the rest of society in institutions, the abrupt fall in income.” In fact, a noted American psychiatrist states that “senile decline” is more likely due to such conditions than it is to the actual deterioration of the body.
The Biological Factor—Heredity
And yet, whereas many persons live under unfavorable conditions, only a comparatively few suffer mental illness as a result. Why does it affect these few and not the others?
More likely than not, because of heredity. Some persons have a predisposition toward mental illness. They are not very well equipped at birth to cope with these stresses. It is like persons who are born financially poor compared with others who are born rich. Certainly. those born poor are far more likely to run into debt, or land on the welfare rolls, than those born rich. Similarly, due to heredity some are born “poor” emotionally and so are more likely to run into “debt” psychologically, and suffer some form of mental illness.
Supporting this illustration and conclusion are the words of Dr. David Rosenthal: “In most cases, an inherited factor needs to be present for schizophrenia to develop. However, without severe environmental stresses the illness may not appear in those who have a predisposition to it.”
Research has disclosed that the closer one’s blood relationship to a schizophrenic, the greater the likelihood that one will also become a victim. Thus if one parent is afflicted, there is one chance out of six that a child will be also. If both parents are, the chances are four chances out of six.
That schizophrenia might have such a physical source was demonstrated by a group of psychiatrists who injected blood from schizophrenics into two normal prison volunteers. Soon after the injection, one lapsed into a stupor-like state and had hallucinations. The other became paranoid; he suspected everyone was talking about him. After about two hours both became normal again.
Regarding the root cause of depression, psychiatric researchers have come to similar conclusions. Thus we are told that “there is growing evidence that some forms of mental depression are hereditary and . . . that a person is 10 times more likely to contract ‘primary’ depression [the sudden kind] if a member of his immediate family is depressed.” Some psychiatrists hold that this is due to some faulty body chemistry or some chemical abnormalities in the brain.
Another Biological Factor—Metabolism
Today there is increasing interest shown in the role that faulty diet plays in causing mental illness in that it can affect metabolism. For example, there is the psychiatric research done in the past year by Dr. J. F. Greden, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He implicated large doses of caffeine in coffee, tea, headache tablets and other commonly used products such as cola drinks as causes of some mental illness. In a speech at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association he said:
“For an undetermined number of (people) subtracting one drug—caffeine—may be of greater benefit than adding another.” He described certain cases as “caffeinism” and further stated that restlessness, irritability, insomnia, headaches, hallucinations, muscle twitching, vomiting, and diarrhea can be caused by it. He noted, however, that some people can and do drink 15 or more cups of coffee a day without any bad effects, whereas others may be affected by as little as two cups.
Of similar import are the findings of British psychiatrist Richard Mackarness. He believes that in many cases of mental illness the principle of psychosomatic medicine is put in reverse, that instead of the mind causing the body to become ill, the body causes the mind to become sick. How so? Because of allergies. He tells of patients who spent years shuttling in and out of hospitals and mental institutions but who were cured when they eliminated from their diet certain foods to which they were allergic. The specific items of food varied according to the person.
A Faulty Personality Structure
In addition to the environmental and biological factors, there is also the factor of faulty personality structure. This is often largely due to failure of parents to rear their children with love and firmness.
Underscoring the role that parents may play in the forming of such flawed personalities are the observations L. E. Martin makes in his book Mental Health/Mental Illness. He notes that parents often pay little attention to the direction that their children’s personalities take until the children get in trouble with the police. Also he explains that parents contribute to the problem when they show themselves more concerned with outward appearances than with basic values, and when they set bad examples themselves in personality traits.
Of the same conviction is psychiatrist Dr. Robbins, associated with Hillside Hospital in New York. According to him, proper youthful rearing is vital for mental health; neglect can lead to psychiatric problems. Says he: “The young patients referred to Hillside Hospital become frustrated easily and want immediate gratification. They enter the hospital demanding that their needs be met rather than wanting to change.” Obviously, those words describe nothing more or less than very spoiled children.
Thus, too, stresses that seem injurious to adults may be such because of personality flaws. Mental depression is a symptom more frequently found in a modern culture in which work itself is no longer considered a worthy thing bringing satisfaction. It is not that working conditions are always more stressful nowadays, but often the problem is that workers’ expectations are so much higher. They want their jobs, not only to provide a living for themselves and their families, but also to satisfy their ego.
Since mental illness is such a complicated matter, you can readily appreciate why there are many differences of opinion as to how best to treat the various mental illnesses. What methods are being used and how successful have they proved to be?
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MENTAL ILLNESS
ENVIRONMENT
HEREDITY
METABOLISM
PERSONALITY FLAWS