How do people get mental illnesses?

1. 62

   johncrandallposted 11 years ago

   How do people get mental illnesses?

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2. 69

   Tusitala Tomposted 11 years ago

   This is not the sort of question that can be answered easily.  It could be argued that only qualified pyschologists and psychiatrists and other specialist medicos can answer it.  However, I do know how a simple neurosis can form.  It can form simply out of an action repeated a number of times until one suddenly believes that if that action is not undertaken, a certainl mental pressure or uneasiness occurs.   Let me give you an example.
   
   Suppose you walk up the street every day at at a certain point you decide you'll touch a fence post.   It might have been just an impulse but you did it.  The next day you walk up and you touch that fence post a second time.  Then on the third and fourth days the same.   It gets to the point that you always touch that fence post as you walk past it.
   
   One day you can't remember if you touched it or not.  Oh-oh.  I'd better just nick back and touch it.   And you give into this impulse to.  You feel uneasy because you didn't touch the fence post.   This is the beginning of neurotic behaviour.   Your common sense tells you you're being ridicuous, but you can't seem to help yourself.
   
   This sort of behaviour is far more common than you think.  The 'rabbits foot' for luck by the bomber pilot who thinks for sure his aircraft will be shot down because he forgot his lucky rabbits foot.   I guess you could say that many superstitions are neurotic behaviour.
   
   So this is one of the simpler ways we can bring on a self-induced mental illness.  I hope this has been of some value to you.    Just watch those thoughts because, as I've said to so many 'Mind matters most!'

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3. 80

   Danidaposted 11 years ago

   Well some are born with them, and others develop them over time or after a traumatic event.
   
   For example, social anxiety is a mental illness/disorder that can be developed if you go through an embarrassing situation. Depression can be developed if you grow bored with your life or for some reason have a hormonal imbalance in your brain.
   
   Also, your brain deteriorates with age so that's why older people tend to get Alzheimer's or dementia.

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   1. 69

      Tusitala Tomposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Does the hormonal inbalance cause the boredom, or the boredom cause the hormonal imbalance?  For example: can an attitude of gratitude ward off or overcome clinical depression?  Mind over matter: or matter over mind - that is the question.

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4. 64

   mintinfoposted 11 years ago

   Some are genetic, some are due to drug abuse, and some are due to natural over stimulation of the senses.
   
   Genetic- It is well known that certain mental illnesses like Schizophrenia is hereditary. It due to a Gene malfunction that passes from generation to generation.
   
   Drugs- Some forms of illicit drugs are so powerful that prolonged use or overdoses damage nerve receptors in the brain causing them to misfire or burn out. The Brain then cannot manage responses to stimulation.
   
   Natural burn out- some people believe that the brain cannot burn out, take the example of kids who are now dieing from prolonged video game playing. Just like the body gets tired and needs rest, so does the Brain. This type of mental illness is associated with excessive compulsive disorders.

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