Multi-level causal mechanisms impacting mental health

There are myriad factors that impact a person's mental health. Environmental stress, poor emotional regulation, ineffective coping methods, neural factors and a genetic susceptibility to negative affect can all interact to cause poor mental health. Whilst there have been important breakthroughs within research domains, these findings remain largely isolated. Particularly within neuroscience, mental health difficulties are often reduced to a biological perspective, ignoring the pervasive and cascading impact that this may have on a person's life. As a person's experience spans social, psychological and biological levels, in order to obtain a comprehensive view of mental health, an interdisciplinary approach is necessary. These relationships are dynamic and complex; for example, prolonged environmental stress can affect the structure and function of the brain, resulting in deficits in cognitive and emotional processing and therefore an inability to cope with future stress. By unravelling the causal mechanisms of multiple levels, we can determine initial and recurrent risk to mental health disorders, establish preventative interventions and develop personalised treatment plans to successfully manage mental health disorders.