“I think most, but not all, mental illnesses follow on from an unhealthy lifestyle. If you get enough exercise, eat properly, don't overindulge or binge drink alcohol, don't do drugs, I think you are likely to be both physically and mentally healthier.” Perfect example of the EXACT ignorance and lack of understanding the op is saying exists!
I have ocd, ocd is a condition one is born with at the very least a predisposition to, the thinking is that it relates at least in part to overdevelopment of a certain part of the brain.
I wasn’t dx until my 30’s...because I was bloody good at hiding it for fear of people thinking I was “nuts” and clearly I wasn’t wrong!
It worsened at certain points mainly relating to trauma.
To address the exact points this poster made at time of dx:
I was eating healthily and was a healthy weight, I’m a vegetarian and was actually quite slim but within a healthy weight range.
I exercised regularly, until a few months prior I’d been a runner and was still swimming and walking regularly (I’d been in a serious car accident which nixed the running)
With an alcoholic parent and several alcoholic relatives I’ve never been a big drinker and wasn’t then either.
I’ve never even tried recreational drugs and the only medication I was on at the time was for endo.
I was a sensible, healthy, normal 30-something
I have friends with bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety... NONE of them were ANY of the things you mention a factor. You’re talking UTTER NONSENSE!
Then there’s the FACT that many PHYSICAL ailments can be due to unhealthy lifestyle...but people suffering them don’t get nearly the same level of vilification!
“Do you think it's possible/common for a person to go through 70/80 years of life getting nothing but a cold” I do have a couple of relatives who’ve managed this but it’s sheer luck rather than saintly lifestyles! Result is they’re arseholes incapable of empathising with anyone with a chronic condition - physical or mental! They think people can just “power through”.
Quite honestly the relatives I have that have struggled with addiction, I’m fairly certain we’re self medicating anxiety/depression anyway. It was certainly the case for my father who’s alcoholism was triggered by a very unexpected and shocking bereavement.
I think it’s far more likely that people leading unhealthy lifestyles are doing so BECAUSE they’re struggling with something else (physical and mental, there’s a woeful invisible scandal imo regarding undx thyroid and gastric disorders leading to disordered eating habits) rather than the unhealthy lifestyle being the cause.
And yes as pp said, quite a few mental illnesses are genetic in cause.
“I don't believe I can recover fully from mental illness. You can adapt and evolve. I have- but once you've experienced a certain hell then I don't believe you can ever go back to being who you were before.
It's possible to come out of it a better person- but unscathed- No.” totally agree!
But that’s not always a bad thing.
Prior to being killed I cared far too much what others thought, even strangers! I was also more materialistic than I am now, but “losing” a houseful of “stuff” as one result of a major breakdown led to the acceptance it was just “stuff” and replaceable.
But yea, I’ll also never be as extrovert or happy or “bubbly” as I was prior either. My greatest sadness is that dd never knew that version of me. She only knows the anxious, fearful, unconfident, overwhelmed version of me - even when I’ve had periods of being at my most well since I am not the same person.