Biological and psychological risk factors - CHAP 12

Psychological risk factor: Stress

A significant contributor to many mental health disorders • Physiological and psychological side effects of stress on an individual • Chronic or acute stress According to the stress-vulnerability model, all people have some level of vulnerability for any given mental disorder and the risk of developing the disorder varies in relation to the combined effect of an individual's level of vulnerability, the level of stress that is experienced and their ability to cope.

Social risk factor: Disorganised attachment

Disorganised attachment is a type of attachment that is characterised by inconsistent or contradictory behaviour patterns in the presence of a primary caregiver. • If this base is threatening, abusive or not there, the base is a source of distress. This can lead to disorganised attachment. • Disorganised attachment = avoidant personality • As adults they can struggle with relationships, trust and seeking help from others.

Psychological risk factor: Rumination

Involves repeatedly thinking about or dwelling on undesirable thoughts and feelings, such as problems or bad moods, without acting to change them.

Biological risk factors: Pharmacogenetics

Poor response to medication due to genetic factors Pharmacogenetics: the study of genetic differences in drug metabolic pathways

BIOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS - Poor sleep

Poor sleep quantity or quality is associated with a range of mental disorders (mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders etc).

Psychological risk factors

Psychological risk factors - for mental disorders either originate or develop within the mind, which means there is often the potential to exert some control over their occurrence or influence.

Biological risk factors: Substance abuse

Refers to the use or consumption of legal or illegal drugs or other products

Social risk factors

Social risk factors for mental disorders originate in the external environment and interact with biological and psychological factors in influencing our mental health state.

Social risk factor: Stigma

Stigma is a mark of disgrace or disgust that sets someone apart • Stigma as a barrier to accessing treatment Stigma is considered a major cause of discrimination and exclusion. There are two main types of stigma; social stigma - refers to any aspect of an individual's identity that is devalued in a social context and self stigma - refers to the stigmatising views that individuals hold about themselves.

Study design dot points: • the influence of biological risk factors including genetic vulnerability to specific disorders, poor response to medication due to genetic factors, poor sleep and substance use • the influence of psychological risk factors including rumination, impaired reasoning and memory, stress and poor self-efficacy

Study design dot points:

Social risk factor: Loss of significant relationship

The loss of these networks can be devastating. - Social connections are one of our greatest protective factors. - The loss of these networks can be devastating. - Grief and bereavement disorders

Study design dot points: social risk factors and cumulative risk • the influence of social risk factors including disorganised attachment, loss of a significant relationship and the role of stigma as a barrier to accessing treatment • the concept of cumulative risk.

social risk factors and cumulative risk

Biological risk factors: genetic vulnerability:

• A biological predisposition to develop a certain disorder or disease. hormones or chemicals

Cumulative risk

• A combination of multiple risk factors at the one time. • The accumulation of risk factors makes mental illness more likely.

Psychological risk factor: Poor self efficacy

• Self efficacy is the belief in our own ability to succeed and overcome. • It has a large influence on how we approach challenges. • People with poor self efficacy are less likely to seek help.

Psychological risk factor: Impaired reasoning and memory

• Sufferers of schizophrenia have been found to have difficulty with probabilistic reasoning (judgements about something happening or being true). • Sufferers of schizophrenia have also been found to have impaired memory ability (episodic with the greatest impairment). Impaired reasoning Reasoning involves goal directed thinking in which inferences are made from known or assumed facts or pieces of information. It allows us to deal with the challenges we meet in everyday life. Probabilistic reasoning involves making judgements related to proabability; the likelihood of something happening or being true. (e.g. how likely is it to rain tomorrow?)