Proposed: Mental health BoF

[Rick Scott]

(Matthew Harris:)
> I would like to talk about:
> 
> If mental health is a disease or is it actually a learned behavior.
> Basic nature vs nurture discussion

Hi Matthew!  Couple things.

Mental health is an interesting area.  The operations of the brain are
fascinating, but still not very well understood.  We know far more
about mental disorders than we used to, but things are still much
murkier than with physical illnesses.

That being said, we do know that the mental and biological aspects
of the brain are are a two-way street: each influences the other.  
Our brain chemistry shapes our thoughts, but the converse is true
as well -- changing our thought patterns produces physical changes
in the brain.

Much current research suggests that, much like physical illness,
multiple factors come into play in mental illness: genetic factors 
that increase one's predisposition to developing a certain disorder, 
brain injuries from hypoxia, physical trauma, or toxic exposure, and 
social factors like traumatic experiences and stress.  Some disorders
show a preponderance of one or more of these factors -- for instance,
ADHD and Bipolar have very strong genetic components (heritability of
~90% and ~70%, respectively).  Others simply don't have any clear cause
that we've yet been able to establish with certainty.

Finally, a major component of the stigma around mental illness is that
it is caused by personal weakness, a failure to manage one's ~feelings~, 
or that it is a learned behaviour used to seek attention or to weasel
to weasel out of responsibility.  Thus, if most of the folks interested 
in the BOF find discussion of this topic to be productive, I'm ok with 
it.  However, if it's used as a vehicle to tell people that their 
mental illness is a deserved result of their personal failings,
or to discourage them from pursing the evidence-based treatments
that will help them get their lives on track, I'm really not.




Cheers,
Rick
-- 
key B2480CA6 / print D0E7 6EBB A448 B31D 691E  3F44 71D8 8993 B248 0CA6
It's a joyless existence, being smushed.
     :Larry Wall
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