Risk factors of mental health problems

Although the exact causes of most mental illnesses are not known, it is becoming clear through research that many of these conditions are caused by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors.

1. Genetic factors such as abnormalities in chromosomes may cause mental illness. Children from mentally ill parents are more likely to develop mental illnesses than children of healthy parents.
2. Organic factors like cerebro-vascular diseases, nervous system diseases, endocrine diseases and chronic illnesses such as epilepsy are associated with mental illnesses.
3. Social and environmental crises like poverty, tension, emotional stress, occupational and financial difficulties, unhappy marriage, broken homes, abuse and neglect, population mobility, frustration, changes in life due to environmental factors like earthquakes, flood and epidemics are associated with mental illness. Environmental factors other than the psychosocial ones capable of producing abnormal human behavior include toxic substances such as carbon monoxide, mercury, manganese, tin, lead compounds, etc.
4. Psychological factors like early childhood experiences of abuse and other psychological trauma during childhood play an important role in the development of mental illness in adult life.
5. Behavioral factors like addicting in drugs, alcohol and substances like khat are associated with mental illness.
6. Other factors associated with mental illness include nutritional deficiency; infections before and after delivery and birth trauma; road, occupational and other accidents; and radiation accidents. The nervous system is most sensitive to radiation during the period of neural development.