title: Subjective accounts of the causes of mental illness in the USA.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psychiatrists and advocates for persons with mental illness in the USA argue that the biomedical model of mental illness as a brain disease is both accurate and effective in reducing stigma. Few studies have queried individuals diagnosed with mental illness to determine the extent to which they define their condition as biologically based versus caused by social and psychological factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty inpatients in a behavioral health unit of a non-profit hospital in Western USA were interviewed in depth regarding their perceptions of the nature and causes of the condition that brought them into the hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The vast majority of patients, regardless of diagnosis, emphasized painful life experiences brought about by others and outside their own control as the primary cause of their mental illness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The biomedical model of mental illness does not necessarily dominate the minds of people with mental illness; therefore mental health practitioners should understand and respect their patients' explanatory models in order to enlist their trust and compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology/300, College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno 89557-0300, USA. melliott@unr.edu
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maitoza
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schwinger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000523:psychology; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult