Is one's mental health determined by their genetic structure or their environment? The truth is that both factors are important components to mental health. Causes of certain mental illnesses continue to be debated as whether they are genetic or environmental. Autism is one such case. A recent court decision found that vaccines do not cause autism, disappointing thousands of parents who truly believed that the MMR vaccine administered on their children led to this condition. These parents believed that a specific environmental factor caused autism in their children, however the court ruled that a vaccine was not the culprit.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental illness that acknowledges environmental causes. Depression is known to have genetic predisposition, as well as environmental triggers. The Environmental Health Perspectives journal has a great article on the environmental connection to mental illness (click on purple text to read it.) Linking environmental factors as underlying causes of mental illnesses would increase greater prevention and treatment strategies by targeting these causes.
The importance of environment and overall health and wellness has been increasing among health professionals. A healthy environment leads to healthy people and unhealthy environment leads to unhealthy people. The greater incidence of mental illness in current society has led many to see important connections between environment and mental health. This growing importance of healthy environments has helped many to view mental health as a community/societal issue, not solely an individual issue. Tackling mental health as a society will help to destimatize mental illness and bring awareness for treament on multiple levels- environmentally and individually.
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