What Influences Mental Health?
Why do some people really struggle with mental illness while others may never face its battles? Is mental health/illness biological or environmental? Is it nature vs. nurture?
These are the big questions that tend to be asked when talking about mental health. While research is still working to fully answer these questions, there are a few known influencing factors that will help explain why some will face mental illness battles and others won’t.
Influence #1: environmental
Both biological and environmental factors can play into the development and onset of mental illness/health. There are some battles that can carry a biological component (such as those with a family history of alcoholism carry a predisposition; making them more vulnerable to addiction themselves) however, all mental health can be influenced by your environment. When talking about environmental factors with clients, I address three different categories (and one subcategory):
Childhood/upbringing: when you think back to your childhood, was mental health talk welcomed in your home? Were you encouraged and welcomed to express your emotions? When distress was encountered, did your caregivers model how to effectively address and manage stress? All these factors can influence the presence of mental illness, how you manage battles if they arise and how you maintain a healthy state of mind.
Current living situation/home life: if you’re in your home, look around (if not, imagine/think about the place you currently live). What do you see? Do you feel safe in your home? Does your living situation bring you peace and comfort? Do you dread going home and/or are you fearful to go home? The state of your current living situation can influence if and how you experience mental health battles. (***if you feel unsafe in your home, please contact your local police station or the National Domestic Violence Hotline for guidance on how to remain safe and remove yourself from the situation.)
Changes in life circumstances (subcategory of above): in addition to your current living situation/space, changes in your life circumstance(s) can also influence mental health. I’ve had many clients express never having struggled with anxiety prior to experiencing grief/loss and ask “Why am I now suddenly struggling?” While the mental illness battles you may face in these times may be circumstantial (i.e. persist only for the amount of time you are navigating and adjusting to the life circumstance change/transition), they are still important to address.
Work environment: similar to your home life, your work life is just as influential on your mental health. How are the relationships with your coworkers? Do your leaders/bosses/managers encourage and support you and their other employees to attend to their overall well-being? Do you feel safe and welcomed at work?
I encourage you to explore what environmental areas may be influencing your mental state. If there are positive influences, how can you maintain and/or expand on those? If they are negative influences, what steps can you begin taking to change and improve your environment? If you’d like guidance in any of these areas, you may schedule a FREE consultation with me to learn how we may do this together.
Influence #2: Social Network(s)
The health of relationships and the level of support surrounding you can either create mental health battles (refer to the section above discussing changes in your circumstances), worsen or improve a preexisting battle or maintain the current health of your overall well-being. When talking about the influence your social network has on your mental health, I encourage you to look at both the quality of your social network as well as the quantity.
Quality: the quality of your social network is referring to how safe you feel with those surrounding you (i.e. do you have a safe support system?). Are you surrounded by individuals who offer a judgement free space to process what you’re experiencing? Are your feelings/experiences validated or dismissed? Do those in your support system offer helpful insight when necessary? These, and many other, factors define the quality of your social network.
Quantity: often times the concept “quality over quantity” is viewed as healthy (and in most cases, yes, that would be true). However, when it comes to social networks and your support system, it is beneficial to have both quality and quantity of relationships. Let me tell you why! Quality is important for the reasons stated above; we want to feel safe, supported, seen, heard and encouraged by those we’re choosing to spend time around and turning to in times of need. Quantity is important because as humans we have many different needs and it’s impossible for one single person (or one group of friends) to meet all of those needs. The saying “don’t put all your eggs into one basket” applies here. If you are relying solely on one person/friend group to meet your needs, what happens when they’re not available or they’re not equipped to meet those needs? Your needs run the risk of going unmet which can contribute to the development or worsening of mental illness. Having multiple different social outlets sets you up for further success to feel supported; both in good times and in bad.
How does the quality and quantity of your social network(s) look? If you’re finding you want to expand your social network, there are multiple different platforms that can help with this such as MeetUp. If you’re encountering obstacles preventing you from building you’re social network and are unsure how to address those, I welcome you to schedule a FREE 15 minute consultation with me to begin overcoming those obstacles.
Influences #3: Society
There are many societal elements that can influence your mental health such ads, tv shows, products, etc. However, the majority of these things stem from societal expectations and norms. To begin exploring how society may have influenced (or is currently influencing) your mental health, I encourage you to explore the following questions:
When you think of the expectations that society carries, what comes to mind?
Do these expectations positively or negatively influence your thoughts and behaviors/actions?
How about what’s considered to be “normal” in how you show up in the world?
Do you feel restricted by any of the expectations and norms you identified in the above questions?
Has society had (or does it currently have) a negative influence on your mental health? If so, which of the expectations and norms you’ve identified above do you want to challenge? What steps might you be able to take to begin challenging and restructuring those for yourself?
SOMETHING TO REMEMBER!!!! No on is immune to mental health battles. We are all vulnerable to mental illness, regardless of who you are! If you are human and have emotions, you are prone to experience elements of depression or anxiety. Does that mean when having moments of feeling anxious or feeling sad that you meet clinical criteria for a diagnosis? No; not always. But because you are human and have human emotion (this is good! And this is okay!), you will and can have moments of anxiety and depression symptoms. So even though you aren’t actively facing a mental health battle, does not mean you won’t (or that you’re not allowed to) have moments of struggle.
Whether you are seeking guidance around the history you’ve experienced with mental illness, it’s your first time facing a mental health battle, or you want to learn how to effectively maintain your mental health, I invite you to schedule your FREE 15 minute consultation below to learn how you and I can work together to achieve your goals.
Here’s to living a better life as your best self!
Brittany Squillace, MA, LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Grief Counselor
