The roots of neurosis and severe mental illness, treatment

The National Health Watch

The roots of mental ill-health (i.e. neurosis and severe mental illness) can be traced to the following five factors:

  • Hereditary and genetic
  • Physical
  • Constitutional
  • Environmental stress: and,
  • Substance abuse, e.g. alcohol abuse and drug abuse.

There may be a hereditary proneness to certain forms of mental ill-health.
The infant is born with certain character, just as it inherits a particular physical configuration, both of which may be modified by environmental influences. Genetic factors play an important part in the tendency to certain forms of severe mental ill-health such as manic-depression and schizophrenia.
Physical illnesses also play a part in causing mental illness. Physical constitution and temperament are also known to predispose to certain forms of mental ill-health.
Example, an individual with a rounded thick-set body configuration may show a likeness to manic-depression and to mood swings.
A degree of stress is not only foreseeable but necessary in human relations.
Stress is not, of itself, damaging to mental health.
There are no situations in which there is not an element of strain and potential conflict.
In fact, human relations who can survive a degree of stress are the healthier for it.
It is a sign of maturity and understanding.
Most individuals, organisations and groups achieve most when under stress.
The problems arise when there is too much stress. Too much stress simply represents unnecessary or damaging stress, especially when a person is unable to withstand and absorb it.
Modern urban society has qualities which both produce intolerable stress and undermine our ability to cope with it.
Urban conditions which may produce intolerable stress include:

  • Overcrowding;
  • The pressure of traffic;
  • Noise;
  • Unemployment;
  • poverty;
  • Homelessness;
  • Rejection;
  • Loneliness;
  • The survival of the fittest and the most ruthless;
  • The rush for money and power; and,
  • The anonymity of life in large cities.

All the above factors make modern life more difficult to enjoy than ever before and they may lead to a predisposition to mental ill-health.

  • Next week’s edition: The roots of neurosis and severe mental illness – substance abuse