Question: what makes people mental?

Helen O'Connor answered on 13 Jun 2011:

The word “mental” is quite an old-fashioned word now – we say that people have psychological problems rather than that they are mental. Although we do also use the words “mental health” or “mental illness” to refer to problems such as schizophrenia etc. In sport there is something called “mental toughness” which means that an athlete has a strong mind as well as a strong body.
There are so many reasons why people get mental illness – some problems such as depression can be temporary, caused by being sad that someone died, or losing your job. Other forms of depression have been linked to chemical imbalances in the brain, and can be treated with drugs. There are so many types of mental illness, and so many possible causes and treatments for them.