We don’t know what causes mental illness.
That doesn’t mean the question is now moot. It’s not necessarily the established facts that make the causation question interesting, but rather the exploration of (and between) different factors.
Before we dig into those factors, let’s acknowledge how broad the term “mental illness” is. It may bring to mind a severe psychotic disorder, like schizophrenia, but mental illness has many shades of severity, both between diagnoses and within them. To start out, let’s look at two common categories.
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Mood disordersaffect how a person feels emotionally. This group encompasses depression and bipolar disorder, among others.
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Anxiety disordersare known for the fear and uncertainty they instill in people living with them. Phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder all fall here.