by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: August 19, 2010

“Mental Health” is a term that is used to describe an individual who is cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally functioning at an acceptable level, with no evident pathology due to the effects of nature or nurture.  But what exactly do we mean when we refer to “nature” and “nurture” and how do they influence a person’s well being and mental health? Researchers who study the origins of mental illness often use these two words to describe the effects that the environment (nurture) and biology and genetics (nature) play in shaping human thinking, behavior, and emotional responses.

The field of genetics explores how certain propensities toward mental illness may be inherited and passed down, resulting in a compromise to mental health. Bipolar disorder, for instance, frequently shows up in multiple generations of the same family. This observation has led scientists to study whether the tendency for developing bipolar disorder may be genetically inherited.   Other potentially inherited forms of mental illness may include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, clinical depression, and attention deficit disorder. Studies also suggest that a predisposition toward Alzheimer’s disease, which has the components of both medical and mental illness, may also be inherited. Studying the relationship between nature and the development of mental illness also begs the question of whether the absence of certain markers that predispose individuals toward the development of mental illness could result in a state of disease-free mental health.

Environmental factors (nurture) include any external influences that are not the result of genetically transmitted traits. The same forms of mental illness that may be inherited are also susceptible to external factors like family of origin issues, culture, the legal system, traumatic events, physical illness, and social interactions. The borderline personality is frequently found in individuals who have sustained some form of trauma in childhood, particularly that of sexual abuse.  External control issues and same-sex parent-child relationships appear to play a significant role in the formation of eating disorders.  Post traumatic stress disorder is triggered by a cataclysmic event that leaves its victim unable to cope and deal with subsequent life. Studies link certain forms of mental retardation such as fetal alcohol syndrome to in-utero trauma which means injury

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