Main description:

What causes mental health problems? Nature or nurture? Brain and biology? Genetic inheritance or social environment? Revised and updated, this concise book explains what we know today about the origins of mental distress, drawing on the latest research from across the world. The answer is of course a bit of everything in combination - because the human body and brain are shaped by the environments we inhabit and what happens to us. Human distress is caused by loss, trauma, violence, childhood abuse, social injustices, poverty and deprivation. How well we are able to cope with these stressors likewise depends on a multiplicity of factors and is unique to each individual. An essential addition to the Straight Talking Introduction series, the book supports the call for more understanding of the social determinants of mental wellbeing. It adds to the arguments for treatments that do not rely on the busted hypothesis of neurochemical imbalances.

Contents:

Series introduction - Richard Bentall and Pete Sanders, 1. Our beliefs and values, 2. A brief history of beliefs about the causes of human distress, 3. The 20th century and beyond: The illness model, 4. Do diagnoses help us understand causes?, 5. Public opinion: Depression is caused by depressing things happening, 6. What does the research say about the causes of mental health problems?, 7. Psychological theories: How events operate on us to create problems. 8. Putting things together: Formulating depression, 9. 2010-2022 and looking to the future: A call for action, Further reading and resources, Indices