Mental Disorders.
Mary
Altamuro
When
we think of the mentally handicapped or those with mental disorders, we
instantly feel pity. We usually do not stop to wonder why or how a person
came to be stricken with the disability or disorder that afflicts them. I
find myself curious about why these disorders still exist generation after
generation even after all the scientific effort at uncovering the causes and
possible cures. A great deal of time and attention has been spent on how
these disorders came to exist and what might make them worse and how to
make them better, but there is still so much we still need to learn.
Thankfully, scientists have given us a great deal of information that can
be very beneficial in understanding, treating and hopefully someday curing or
preventing mental and emotional issues.
Recently,
studies have shown that a genetic predisposition may be hidden in people that
makes them prone to certain characteristics that when provoked, can create
emotional or mental conditions. This predisposition, in conjunction with
a triggering event or simply by the quality in that person’s environment and
upbringing can cause these characteristics to become problematic and spark a
mental or emotional abnormality. This peculiar phenomenon is called the
diathesis-stress model.
According
to this theory, when provoked, a characteristic may go into overdrive, causing
a person to have a legitimately diagnosable illness. Environmental stimuli that
may cause such a thing to happen are social issues or trauma that may have
occurred at a young age.
One
of the most common problems that can cause such a change in people would have
to do with their parents. If a young person does not receive the right kind of
attention as they are maturing, it can cause emotional and social problems for
them later in life. An overbearing or judgmental parental figure can
cause a person to have low self-esteem, which could then inflict disorders such
as narcissistic personality disorder, social anxiety disorder or even
depression. Parents who get divorced have also been shown to cause
obsessive-compulsive disorder in as children of divorced parents tend to feel
they have a loss of control in their lives and obsessive-compulsive disorder is
a disorder driven by a person’s overwhelming need and drive for control.
These disorders reveal themselves when people who are predisposed for the characteristics are triggered by an emotional or social stress. This ignites an inner need to balance themselves out, mentally. Sadly, they often emotionally overcompensate; leaving them worse off then they were in the beginning.
Sources:
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Initials. (2005, May 20). Narcissistic personality disorder. Retrieved from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/personality_disorders/hic_narcissistic_personality_disorder.aspx
Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD, Initials. (2008, November). What causes ocd?. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/ocd.html#
Amal Chakraburtty, MD, Initials. (2010, March 01). Causes of depression. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/causes-depression
Rashmi Nemade, Ph.D., Natalie Staats Reiss, Ph.D., and Mark Dombeck, Ph.D., Initials. (2007, September 19). Current understandings of major depression - diathesis-stress model. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=12998&cn=5
Cadena, Christine. (2007, November 16). How anxiety develops in children: the "diathesis-stress" model. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/446920/how_anxiety_develops_in_children_the.html
