Lesson 2 Mental Illness: Who Can It Happen To?

Mental illness can happen to anyone.

Risk is the chance that something negative or bad will happen A risk factor is something that changes a person's chance of having something negative or bad happen.

There are factors that influence a person's risk of developing a mental illness. Some factors increase a person's risk for mental illness and other factors decrease a person's risk for mental illness.

• it is more common in females than in males
• people of all ages can get depression
• individuals who have a close family with lots of communication among family members are less likely to be depressed
• a person who has depression often has a family member  who also has depression
• Young people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to have depression.
• People who are pessimistic about life (who always see the negative side of things) and who feel hopeless are more likely to be depressed
• Stressful events such as a romantic breakup can make depression more likely
• a person who experiences abuse, violence, or disaster is more likely to get depression

If having risk factors, even some that seem to increase a persons's chances of getting depression by a great amount, doesn't mean the individual has depression.