biological aspects of human behavior and psychology and mental illness
It does indeed almost seem impossible to untangle biological aspects of human behavior and psychology and mental illness. One way or another, biology must be involved. Perhaps the intricate connection between biology and personality, biology and mental illness, and biology and positive mental health will offer us new insights and understanding.
Can you push this along and really narrow your focus on some aspect of this connectedness? Dig deep into some very specific aspect relating to the biological determinants of mental illness.
300 words . just develop what i have written … critical thinking paper… continuation of what i posted .. elaborate more.
Biology and Good Mental Health
Critical thinking paper
March 11, 2020
Introduction
The relationship that exists between biology and mental health is a complex one. Over the years, there has been considerable debate among scholars, researchers and scientists as to the effect’s biology has on mental health. While some believe biology plays a major role in the mental health of human; others on the other hand believe the effect of biology if any, on mental health is minimal. According to Eric Kandel, a Noble Prize winner and a professor at the Brain Science Department at the Columbia University says mental processes are also brain processes and therefore, all mental disorders functioning such as depression and anxiety are biological diseases, (Weir,2012). This claim is gradually gaining popularity in recent time due to the increase in sophisticated research. The purpose of this paper is to determine if biology has meaningful impact on human mental health and biotechnology.
Biology
In its simplest definition, Biology is the science of life. According to (Bagley, 2017), Biology is derived from two Greek words; “bios”, which means life and “logos”, which means study. Putting these two words together therefore means the study of life. It is not surprising that biologist over the years have spent quality time studying structure, growth, function, origin, evolution and distribution of living organisms including human. There are several branches of Biology including Biochemistry, Botany, Cellular Biology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Genetics, Molecular Biology and Zoology. One of these branches that closely relates to the theme of this paper is physiology, which deals with the study of the functions of organisms and their parts. Physiology also breaks down the parts of organisms including humans and studies how the functions of these parts relate to the other parts of the system. In other words, the internal workings of organisms and how they interact and affect each other is what physiology is mostly about.
In the broader sense, the study of physiology includes important concepts like the circulatory system, digestive system, excretory system, endocrine system, immune system, integumentary system, musculoskeletal system, nervous system, renal system, reproductive system and respiratory system. All these system interact with each other and it is believed are controlled by the brain. This is where psychology and mental health come into play.
Mental Health
Mental health refers to the behavioral, cognitive and emotional wellbeing of living organisms, (Legg, 2017). In this respect, mental health deals with how humans think, behave, feel and their ability to enjoy life. Example of common issues relating to mental health are anxiety, fear, depression etc. According to the World Health Organization, mental health is the state of wellbeing in which a person has the ability to cope with the normal stresses of life in other to productively and fruitfully engage in working for the benefit of the community. By this definition, The World Health Organization believes that, the absence of mental disorder does not necessarily mean mental health. Rather, the daily life and activities of humans depends on the state of mental health. A good mental health tends to encourage or support healthy behavior while, bad mental health tends to discourage healthy behavior. This throws more light on what mental health entails.
According to Legg (2017) one in every five Americans experiences mental health problems each year. This equates to 18.5% of the United States population. To make the matters worse in 2005 according to the writer, 9.8 million adults defined as 18 years and over had serious mental disorder. This equates to 4.8% of all-American adults. This is an indication of how serious the issue of mental health is in the country. As previously noticed in the definition of The World Health Organization, the greater a country’s populations suffer from mental problems, the lower the work productivity It is of great importance to find lasting solution to mental problems to better the economy.
The Connection between Biology and Mental Health
Critical study of several researches and scholarly articles shows a strong link between Biology and mental health. One of these research works is the Pine’s two system theory. The two-system theory arose in the midst of an assumption that, there is a fear system that exists in the mammalian brain, which in the presence of threat, generates both the conscious feeling of fear and the behavioral and physiological responses typical of such experiences, (LeDoux & Pine, 2016).The two-system theory proposed a two system framework. One part of the system generates conscious feelings and the second part controls behavioral and physiological responses to threats, (LeDoux & Pine, 2016). In the simplest sense, the first system deals with the generation of conscious feelings while the second part deals with nonconscious activities or operates unconsciously. This system is an attempt to explain the relationship between the human brain (Biology) and mental health issues such as fear. According to LeDoux&Pine (2016) fear is an innate function of subcortical brain areas. As a result, the immediate presence of a threat activates the subcortical brain areas known as lateral nucleus of the amygdala, which in turn initiates bodily reaction to the threat. The theory therefore establishes that, there is a connection between the brain and fear.
Another important school of thought there is a strong connection between Biology and mental health. Researchers have shown that, certain mental illnesses are linked to abnormal functioning of the nerve cell circuits pathways that connect particular brain regions, (WebMD, 2018). Generally, nerve cells within the mentioned brain region communicate through chemicals called neurotransmitters. It is this chemical that psychologists as well as other medical professionals believe, could be tweaked to help the brain function more efficiently .To sum it up, an injury to this part of the brain leads to certain mental conditions, Other biological factors that might lead to mental problems according to the school of thought include genetics, infections and prenatal damage. The end result, there is a connection between Biology and mental health.
Assertion
From the above, it is obvious that Biology and mental health go hand in hand. This is not just establishing a connection between the two concepts but also, providing evidence to believe that Biology affects human mental health. The human brain is divided into sections and each part controls some level of human activities. As explained by the two-system theory, there is a section of the brain that controls human fear, anxiety and mood. Problem to the brain will result in alteration in the normal activities of human. Infection of the brain, for example is linked to mental illness, (WebMD, 2018). Biology therefore affects mental health through the power of the brain to control certain aspects of human life including emotions, fear, anxiety, and depression and among other areas.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Biology and mental health are inseparable. Biology to a greater extent studies the human body including the brain and how the brain affects and interacts with other human parts. One area agreed upon by researchers, is how sections of the brain controls fear, anxiety and mood in human. Thanks to emerging areas of epigenetics, the future looks bright for providing stronger evidence of the link between biological and other causes of mental illness. This has the potential of leading to a better system of managing mental issues and mental illness.
REFERENCES
Bagley, M. (2017). What is Biology. LiveScience, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/44549-what-is-biology.html
LeDoux, J., & Pine, D. (2016). Using Neuroscience to Help Understand Fear and Axiety: A Two-System Framework. Retrieved from: http://www.cns.nyu.edu/ledoux/pdf/LeDoux%20Pine%20Two%20Systsem.pdf
Legg, T. (2017). What is Mental Health?. Medical News Today, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php
Weatherspoon, D. (2017). A Brief Introduction to Physiology. Medical News Today, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248791.php
WebMD, (2018). Causes of Mental Illness. WebMD, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-causes-mental-illness#1
Weir, K. (2012). The Root of Mental Illness. June 2012, Vol 43, No.6. retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/roots.aspx
Nice paper.
Careful proofing may have helped with clarity and issues of grammar noted above.
Excellent research. I am very happy to see Pine include.
It does indeed almost seem impossible to untangle biological aspects of human behavior and psychology and mental illness. One way or another, biology must be involved. Perhaps the intricate connection between biology and personality, biology and mental illness, and biology and positive mental health will offer us new insights and understanding.
Can you push this along and really narrow your focus on some aspect of this connectedness? Dig deep into some very specific aspect relating to the biological determinants of mental…
