IMO, it is the mind that makes us not progress or learn how to cope with our illnesses. It's fear of the unknown, maybe? Our thoughts cause our emotions.

The only thing I know for a fact is that depression and anxiety are caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. The imbalance causes the emotions and the emotions cause us fear as in anxiety. Anxiety can cause agoraphobia and many other things, but aren't they just emotions that cause us to act or react in certain ways? Depression causes us to feel worthless and that there is no point to much of anything.

My daughter is Bordeline and she sees me as an addiction. She's afraid of me... or rather, afraid that she'll be sucked in and overpowered by me much like an alcoholic is by booze. I'm not sure if that's a chemical imbalance, too. But again, it's fear that keeps her from talking to me or having any kind of a relationship with me.