Do you believe mental illnesses are physical problems, psychological problems, or just a made-up thing?

Answer 1

all 3.

Answer 2

I believe mental illness is caused by a dysfunction in the production of chemicals in the brain. The treatment being a attempt to re balance the system. Unfortunately the treatment often has side effects that don't make life a lot easier to bear for the sufferer. It is a vicious circle. People view illnesses in a strange way. Mental illness is viewed by many as an embarrassment, (I feel this is the best word I can use.) If someone suffers from heart problems there are very few people who could look and say to themselves that person has heart problems, if they could they might feel sadness. I had chemotherapy 5 years ago, people who said hello to me at the school gate started to ignore me, not my friends. Because it was obvious what was wrong with me. After my treatment had finished and I looked normal again they asked me how was I, because they felt I looked o k.
They were embarrassed because I was different. People who suffer from problems in their chemical make up do not choose this and no-one would want to make up this problem.
So, I conclude, I think its a physical problem that affects the psychological behavior of the brain, and most certainly not a made up thing.

Answer 3

They are largely physical (imbalances of chemicals in the brain, due to genetic or other factors), but environmental stimuli certainly play a significant role in human psychological development as well. For instance, even though Mother Theresa grew up to be a very compassionate people-serving person, if she had been chained to a pole in an attic and beaten everyday through her childhood, she easily could have developed into a serial killer (as an extreme example). She may have developed into a very similar person to who she actually was as well, but that would be unlikely.
Saying mental illness is a made-up thing is laughably ignorant. Thats like saying people are just making it up when they get cancer. People can certainly act as though they have a mental illness when they don't, although I don't know why anyone would do that, but thats an entirely different subject.
A little bit of very easy to come by research will give you much more info on this subject.

Answer 4

It also depends on what illness you are talking about. I'll give you two popularised examples.

Now, everyone has heard, "depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain", but does that necessarily follow with "a chemical imbalance in the brain is the cause of depression"? Certainly not logically. What it does mean is that the chemical imbalance is a physical symptom of depression or display of depression. Thought and behavour causes emotions. Emotions are a result of chemical reactions in our brain. The depressed person has trained their brain to work on depression thus the imbalance. This is why antidepressant medication on it's own has such a high relapse rate and why CBT has the same sucess rate for depression without the high relapse rate.

Now, schizophrenia on the other hand, is more probably related to physical and enviromental factors rather than psychological although psychology will play a role in the illness.

Answer 5

SEE A PSYCHIATRIST! 1. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 2. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 3. Major Depressive Disorder 4. Social Anxiety 5. Schizophrenia They’re just FIVE of the mental conditions you could have. They can all be treated with an SSRI, an atypical antipsychotic, or both, along with cognitive therapy from a clinical psychologist. Thyroxine is not what you need, you don’t have an endocrine disorder. Let me tell you something else, something from personal experience, the system can only fail you as a KID, you're an ADULT now, you're 31 years old! That means you've been FAILING YOURSELF for at least 13 years! That self-pity, that blaming, using the Internet, all that hasn't helped you. Quit living in the past and take control of your own life.

Answer 6

It's an actual fact that some mental illnesses like depression and psychosis can be triggered by psychosocial behaviour.

Sometimes drug addiction can set this off and as a result you will feel psychological withdrawal symtoms.

But more importantly the psycho-social apect is the starting point of the aforementioned illnesses. This in turn impacts your physiological state.

This means that the regulatory neurons and chemical messengers in your Central Nervous System are affected in terms of: destruction, disrupted timing of release etc. which leads to different levels of chemical messengers causing mixed signals for the brain to process.

Such complications are the cause of mental illness.

Sometimes people are born with it but sometimes the body acquires it.

Answer 7

Didnt you already answer this question in your question? Theyre mental illnesses, so they involve the brain, the psyche/mind or the id/ego. the causes MAY be physical, such as tumor, chemical imbalance, or just plain old brain damage from any number of causes. Some illnesses including psychological ones may be psycho-somatic in nature, meaning that they are manifestations of the mind, but mental illnesses are for the most part very real, and can be extremely debilitating...

Answer 8

Mental illness is absolutely real. It can have it's roots in a physical problem (chemical imbalance) or in the way a person was raised. If a person is raised in an abusive type environment, they will learn faulty coping skills. These faulty skills will compound the problems in a person's life as they mature... so that eventually, they may need serious help to detangle their emotions.

Answer 9

Mental illness is not made up! If you have ever had a family member go through these sorts of illnesses then you could understand.
Please tread carefully as you could do More damage to the person in question than good.
Contact your Local Community Psychiatric Nurse who can help answer any questions you may have. You can do this through your local GP or theirs!!

Answer 10

it is a lot of things.. not in any particular order..
1. Parents having a general unwillingness to fill their roles responsibly. Like, my child refuses to clean his room .. they go to a doctor and get the kid some pills to make him conform.
2. This is only possible because of doctors not having the moral dignity to tell the parents to wake up and deal with it rationally..
3. The drug companies seeking profit by creating a medical situation out of nothing..
Mental Illnesses in kids is extremely rare.. 90% of them are probably kids just being taken advantage of and having their natural childhood robbed by it all.

4. Most of these kids will go on to have problems later in life because of the drugs that they were handed as kids.

5. it is an easy way out for some adults to compensate for their lack of self-discipline .. they choose not to live a healthy lifestyle.. and run to the doctor because the consequences of their poor decisions are more than they can handle.. it is easier (and more convenient) to take pills than it is to change their lifestyles..
I am sure you can think of a few as well..

That doesn't mean it is entirely a figment of our collective imaginations.. some people need mental help because they need mental help. A lot of it is genetic, the mentally ill of today were predisposed to it through the generations. A lot of it is how our minds deal with things that are beyond our control. There are plenty of reasons for this as well.. victims of violent crimes, or childhood abuse are common examples.

A vast majority of it can easily be prevented.

Someday, people will figure out that we can live longer and healthier by taking better care of ourselves and each other.
Eating healthy, getting some exercize, getting plenty of sleep, and minimizing the amout of stress in our everyday lives.. finding ways to relax and vent .. having a couple hobbies to get lost in. A lot of it is the pressures of society. Gotta fill the day full of stuff that means nothing in the end, at the expense of everything that does. People need to figure that out.
Until that day comes.. we are all trapped in the madness of it.

Before someone goes crazy.. I am NOT saying it is entirely made up. But I think a lot of it is avoidable with a little common sense.

Answer 11

Mental illness is real, I have been dealing with it for years in my mother-in-law! My husband and I finally went to see a counselor to see if there was any thing that we could do to help her, but he said that she is a passive-aggressive, terrorist and she will only try to destroy each one of us and our children. I have watched her destroy her own family and very few make it out normal after the abuse that she inflicts on them. Their minds are so ill that it takes a professional to know how to deal with them. Someone that has studied the traits of each disease and all of the characteristics of it so they know how to counteract it.