The literature suggests that the public believes most mental disorders are caused by psychosocial factors such as environmental stressors or traumatic childhood events. Footnote 70 People are more inclined to attribute severe mental illness to biomedical causes like genetics. Footnote 71 Canadians consider a wide range of biomedical, social, psychological, and other potential factors as causes of mental illness. However, like people in other countries, they show a preference for psychosocial explanations (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Perceived Causes of Mental Disorders
Summary of National Survey Responses
Canadians are more likely to attribute common mental disorders (anxiety and depression) to psychosocial influences such as life stresses, and more apt to link schizophrenia to biomedical causes, as shown in Figure 3. The most frequently cited environmental causal factor in the survey was stressful life events (divorce, death in the family, relationship or work problems). Less than one-quarter of Canadians linked depression or anxiety to biomedical factors. Chemical imbalance and genetics were cited more often as causes for schizophrenia but even for schizophrenia, less than half of respondents cited biomedical factors as the cause. Bio-medical explanations emerged more often among female respondents (31% vs. 23% among males), the young rather than the elderly (almost a third vs. 21%), and non-Quebecers (27% vs 21% in Quebec).
Return to note 70 Priest et al, 1996; Jorm, 1997b; Link et al, 1999: Jorm, 2000; Walker and Read, 2002.
Return to note 71 Jorm, 1997b; Link et al, 1999,