How much of our illness is biological and chemical, and how much of it is an attempt to retrain our brain to stop under/overproducing specific chemicals? I know this is an oversimplification -- but let me explain my thought process here.

I once had a therapist explain to me the complexity of the human brain is amazing, because chemical imbalances in the brain don't occur without stimuli of some sort. Emotional stimuli from EVENTS IN YOUR LIFE can cause that imbalance. (That always blew me away -- my body reacts to all stimuli, it's not like "I don't get enough vitamin B12" where you supplement your body. It's my body stopped/overproduces X chemical because of specific events that triggered a chemical change in my brain and thus causes on a chemical level a basis for my illness.)

Now, this idea is supported in theory by the fact psychotherapy and medication kind of go hand in hand. It seems, if we follow my thoughts here, medication helps "stabilize" the imbalance, but we still have to retrain our brains to stop reacting the way it is. This may be why therapeutic techniques CBT are effective to an extent -- it's retraining your brain on multiple levels.

Anyway, this is all based on a comment made to me by a therapist -- it is in no way representative by extensive research or peer-reviewed analysis of any sort. I may be completely off base and sound like a crazy person. I may have some merit in what I'm saying, I just thought I'd share it. I'd be interested in learning from a professional their thoughts about how mental illness works, from various aspects and how they inter-relate. That's really the point I'm getting to -- The various aspects of mental illness all interrelate, not one aspect (biological, chemical, environmental etc.) works alone. Your genes (biological) may be the reason your brain overproduces/limits production of X (chemical), or it may be because of certain events in your life, or on occasion another illness or deficiency (environmental). It may be both, it may be something complete different.... I guess I just never put 2 and 2 together about how traumas and things of that nature could create mental illness.

Just a thought... Don't criticize me too harshly, ok? :P

I, personally, do think stressors of all sorts (even seemingly positive ones) are major triggers for bipolar episodes, but I believe that one would not have a bipolar episode without being genetically predisposed to the condition. I think my first episode when I was very young was sparked by a major stressor, but I have had plenty of episodes start up seemingly for no good reason. I could possibly believe that people (or at least me) are very very sensitive and can find stressors or other types of triggers in things that barely or completely don't affect those without the disorder. Something like change in seasons or hormonal issues might be an example. Or even one thing said that bothered me and I stayed up late ruminating on it.

I also think mood episodes are triggered by other mood episodes. The well-known "What goes up must go down" effect, or vice versa. This seems to also be possible with a period of stability in between. Many say that just as the "kindling effect" makes epileptics more likely to have frequent seizures, the same can make a person with bipolar have multiple episodes, but this is not always the case, I guess.

I think therapy can be very helpful in preventing bipolar episodes. My psychiatrist requires that I have therapy because he believes it represents a complete treatment. Certainly learning coping skills and have that extra support may help some people be less vulnerable to stressors/triggers.

[JanusunaJ]

There are some really interesting articles written by Andres Ruiz on Medium here he compares the biomedical model to the biopsychosocial model. From what I understand, the biomedical model puts its emphasis on biochemical processes being the reason for mental illness, removing environmental factors, such as small-scale or large-scale social interactions.

It's all pretty interesting. Then there is epigenetics which from what I've found states that environmental stressors impact genetic structures. For instance, with holocaust survivors, their progenies are more susceptible to experiencing PTSD because their ancestors experienced the horror of long-term, sustained stress(i.e. being in fight/flight/freeze for extended periods of time), which altered them genetically.

Is it as simple as the biological and chemical processes occurring within an individual? Seems to not be. I've wondered why mental illness, especially depression, bipolar, or schizophrenia have been around for 1000s of years and there hasn't been a cure, or even an established etiology. Even if a cure were developed or the etiology uncovered, considering that social influences can alter your genetic makeup, isn't it possible that the zeitgeist would beget other/novel, if not the same, mental illnesses? Seems like it's some kind of feedback system.

[~Christina]

Interesting

[Aliceiw]

From what I understand your genes have an underlying tendency for certain illnesses and your habits and the habits of your mother can make these genes express themselves or not. Check out epigenetics in diseases. I assume habits can also be out of your control, like stressful stimuli which is why mental illness can be both biological and environmental. That's just my take.