A qualitative inquiry into consumer beliefs about the causes of mental illness

Abstract

This paper examines consumer or service user beliefs about the causes of mental illness. It presents a qualitative, participatory action research study involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 people who had been diagnosed with a mental illness and attended a community mental health centre in metropolitan South Australia. Inductive thematic analysis was undertaken, with a range of beliefs about the possible cause of mental illness identified. Findings are organized within two key areas: social or environmental factors and physical or biological factors. The social or environmental category included varied situations, clustered under the subcategories of: stress during childhood, events in adulthood and religious beliefs. Physical or biological factors included beliefs that mental illness was inherited, caused by brain malfunction or chemical imbalance. Of note, one-third of consumer participants who discussed possible causes of mental illness identified multiple potential causes. Implications for service delivery, specifically related to therapeutic trust and engagement, are also considered.

Losses related to everyday occupations for adults affected by mental illness

“…a loss of control or purpose, with more than half of participants revealing they had attempted suicide at some point; and various losses were also perceived as possible reasons for or contributing factors to mental illness (28). Findings from the current theme (losses related to everyday occupations) are organized in two categories: (i) work; and (ii) other occupations, titled "I haven't got an average day but they're the sorts of things I fill my day with".…”

What Do Patients Think about the Cause of Their Mental Disorder? A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Causal Beliefs of Mental Disorder in Inpatients in Psychosomatic Rehabilitation

“…Qualitative approaches enable gaining a deeper insight into patients’ causal beliefs by directly asking patients about their own ideas in their own words and focusing on relevant causal beliefs from patients’ perspectives. For instance, qualitative studies explored causal beliefs of mentally ill in-patients [17], patients from a community mental health centre [16] diagnosed with different disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse) and primary care patients with depression [12].…”

“…depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse) and primary care patients with depression [12]. Causal beliefs like life experiences, social or environmental situations, physical or biological factors [16, 17] as well as personal mistakes [17] were identified. Hansson et al [12] asked primary care patients with depression an open-ended question about what had caused their depression and organized their data into three larger themes: “current life stressors” covered problems related to work, family, somatic illnesses, loneliness and finances; “past life events” referred to experiences in the past and “constitution” covered aspects of personality and disposition.…”

‘You Just Lose the People You Know’: Relationship Loss and Mental Illness

“…In the current study, lost relationships were the most prominent type of loss that participants described as a possible cause for their illness. Relationship losses participants viewed as causes or contributors to the onset of mental illness included the loss of family through death, loss of acceptance or support from others due to prejudices, loss of intimate relationships, and the loss of supportive or nurturing relationships in childhood due to abuse or neglect (Baker & Procter, 2013).…”