Posted by Dinah on September 6, 2010, at 7:58:07
In reply to Re: disability - Proudfoot - SLS, posted by SLS on September 6, 2010, at 7:16:24
I agree, Scott. In fact, my belief is that only in extreme cases does the second scenario apply completely. In my opinion, without a predisposition to make a person vulnerable, environmental stressors outside the extreme are unlikely to cause severe mental illness.
It reminds me of the old refrigerator mom theory of autism, largely superceded by a view that it is a biological illness, with parents possibly showing mild versions of the same disorder. It made perfect sense at the time, but later research showed that perhaps cause and effect were confused.
Without a genetic predisposition to anxiety disorders, my upbringing may have been odd but not particularly damaging. In my mother's family, two of her siblings had recurring psychotic breaks. They were the two siblings who had abusive husbands. Perhaps they would have never developed psychosis without the abuse, but certainly other women are abused and do not become psychotic. And I strongly suspect that if my mother were similarly stressed, she also would have been pushed into severe mental illness.
To be clear, I do think there are traumas severe enough to cause, on their own, mental illness.
But I mainly think that most disorders, including personality disorders, have strong biological underpinnings.
It's mainly a helpful distinction for the purposes of treatment, though. However an arm gets broken, it still impairs function.
poster:Dinah
thread:960391
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100829/msgs/961460.html