CHALLENGES TO PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH

In spite of their best efforts to be positive and resilient, many people have a less than optimal level of psychological health.  There is some debate about how much control people actually do have over their psychological health.  A general consensus is that two factors, nature and nurture, influence psychological health, but there are differing views on how much each contributes to our psychological makeup.  Nature refers to the innate factors we are born with that genetically determine our degree of psychological health.  Nurture is the effect that the environment, people, and external factors have on our psychological health.  We all know some people who are high strung or anxious by nature, and others who are cheerful and naturally outgoing.  We seem to be born with a predisposition towards a certain psychological health, which is often similar to our parents.  “she is serious like her father” or “he is funny like his mother” are remarks people may make alluding to this genetic link.  Environmental factors such as social relationships, family harmony, financial resources, job and academic concerns, stressful situations or events and even the weather can influence your degree of psychological health.