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Mental Health: Nature vs Nurture

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Mental Health: Nature vs Nurture
Mental Health : Nature or Nurture
Mental health is by nature and not by nurture. The mental health of a person is linked to his gene and hereditary. A person with no mental illness ancestry does not easily encounter depression or other illness in adverse situations. On the other hand, a person having a parent with mental illness has a considerable chance of getting mentally ill. A person having a mutated gene in his DNA can get mental health problems easier than normal people. Nurturing adds to problem for a person with genetics prone for mental disorder .According to ( Trimarchi,2012) “Having just one blood relative with a mental health problem does increase your risk of having one, too”. So mental illness is more due to nature rather than nurture.
The mental disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar and depression has large link to gene and if their parent has these disorder then the child has 15% chance of getting it. Many people can have depression suicidal thoughts due to stress and circumstances but schizophrenia and bipolar are related to gene. The mutation in gene is the cause of such mental problems. Some diseases are due to external factors and social conditioning while mental disorders with serious concerns are caused due to gene. There is genetic aberration in people with such disorders and this affect the functioning of neurotransmitters in the brain. According to ( Kolata,2013) “ They found a few unusual disruptions of chromosomes that were linked to psychiatric illnesses. But what surprised them was that while one person with the aberration might get one disorder, a relative with the same mutation got a different one”.

Gene has relevance to mental disorder so does gender has effect on it. Men and women alike are not prone to mental problems. Mental illness affect women and men differently .It is understood that women are twice prone to depression and other disorders. Some disorders are more common among women and some express themselves



References: Kolata, Gina. "5 Disorders Share Genetic Risk Factors, Study Finds." http://www.nytimes.com. The New York Times, 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . Trimarchi, Maria. "Are mental illnesses genetic?." http://science.howstuffworks.com. How Stuff Works, 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . WHO, . "Gender and women 's mental health." http://www.who.int. World Health Organization, 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. .

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