Mental Illness : An Essential Time For Neurobiological Development

According to, “Teratogens and their effects on Unborn and Nursing Infants,” published by The University of North Texas, there is a list of common teratogens that are known throughout the world and many reasons that lead to a child having chances for these teratogens. According to Kathleen Stassen Berger, writer of, “The Developing Person through Childhood and Adolescence,” she defines behavioral teratogens to be known as agents and conditions that can harm the prenatal brain, impairing the future child’s intellectual and emotional functioning. The teratogen known for behavioral is known to affect the brain in some occasions if damage is affected a lot more so invading the brain and the child intellectuality to function

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), birth defects results in one of every 33 babies. Teratogens account for 4 out of 5% of birth defects when chemical and drugs are in the system. The use of this or even infections can cause abnormal fetal development.

The second action with exposure to teratogens is smoking. Smoking during a pregnancy can cause multiple problems. Some of those problems could be low birth weight, placenta issues, miscarriage, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), premature birth, or other birth defects.

As previously mentioned, environmental factors, such as exposure to taratogens, can affect the development of the unborn child. Broderick and Blewitt (2105) define a teratogen as “substances or agents that can cross the placental barrier and produce fetal deformities when taken or absorbed by the mother during pregnancy” (p.619). These substances include drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pollution, stress hormones, poor nutrition, and diseases, such as AIDS. Consumption of drugs and/or alcohol can lead to low birth weight, as well as, physical, cognitive, and behavioral abnormalities. Furthermore, more recent studies are showing that exposure to pollutants can affect an individual’s development. For example, a study of the

Alcohol is a type of teratogen, which is an agent that can caused birth defects to occur. The timing and the amount of exposure to a teratogen is crucial when it comes to a pregnancy. A mother’s use of alcohol can greatly affect an unborn child. The timing at which the effect of teratogens varies from person to person, but the time when the teratogens have the largest effect typically occurs during the periods of rapid prenatal development. Mothers who are pregnant, or who wish to become pregnant, should avoid consuming alcohol because the teratogens can affect the mother’s eggs. It is true that there are certain stages in the pregnancy where a certain amount of exposure to teratogens will only have little impact, but there is still some form of result. When

There is an ongoing debate whether mental illness is caused by genetic or environment. Although many argue that genetics is the cause, I believe that there is greater chance of it being environmental. I believe that mental illness is caused by environment because there are many factors that contribute to environment which include: a traumatic situation an individual encounter, feelings of inadequacy, or social and cultural expectations from an individual.

Teratogens are any environmental agents that cause damage during the prenatal period and the roles they have on an embryo is causing malformations. Prescriptions and non-prescriptions while they may seem harmless and specific for their use can cause so serious malformations. For instance Accutane, which is simply used to treat very bad acne; if taken while pregnant can affect the embryo by causing eye, ear, skull, brain, heart, and immune system abnormalities. Alcohol is another teratogen and affects the embryo by causing facial abnormalities, brain injury, and includes neurodevelopment issues. Even though teratogens can cause damage during the entire length of the prenatal period the time in which it has the strongest affect is the Embryonic

Psychologically, people who suffered from mental illness are more likely to have being traumatised, being neglected, too emotional and sexually abuse. There are so many things that triggers mental illness which are low self-esteem, poverty, loss of job, anger, anxiety, death of loved ones like parents, friend or someone important, loneliness, adverse childhood experience, relationships and divorce.

According to the article, the author argues that human development starts in the womb. I completely agree with this statement and believe that there is an interrelationship between mother and the fetus, that can affect body health and intellectual. The influences in the womb that resonated with me are the sources of stress and the impact of air. In the text, the author gives us a real life situation where they put pregnant women with normal mood and pregnant women with mental disorders in different situations. They measured the respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and nervous system. They found the fetuses that were affected more are the ones with a depressed or anxious pregnant women. When one doesn’t have control in their mental feelings or actions, one can hurt others in the

Our current mental health systems has many faults, but we are making progress identifying those afflicted with mental illness. More and more research is being done to help identify causes of these disorders. There have been advancements in new prescription medications and better treatment options too. Many mentally ill patients fall through the cracks - they end up homeless or in prison. We still have a long way to go because prisons can't be used as a form of treatment for the mentally ill.

Part (1)The embryonic period is considered the critical period where teratogens are more likely to have a lasting effect among developing creatures (Arnett, 2015). Arnett (2015) stated that Teratogens are triggered by environmental factors, bad decisions done by the mother, or being unhealthy. During the embryonic period, important organs are developing rapidly; therefore, teratogens can harm the development because the embryo and fetus are susceptible to them. Those organs include the brain, limbs, and heart. Additionally, the main teratogens are due to diseases, drug usage, and lack of proper nutrition. Some of the health consequences that can arise are heart abnormalities and mental retardation (Arnett, 2015). Part (2) The advice that I

There has been a lot of research argued whether mental illness caused by genetics or environment. For many years, there has been some amount of research on whether mental illness is caused by genetics or environment. Through all the research that has been gone through, mental illness has been known to be caused by both genetics and environment.

Prenatal development is the process in which a human embryo or fetus gestates during pregnancy, from fertilization until birth (Prenatal Development). Most cases of unhealthy development can be avoided, however there are some genetic and environmental factors that cannot. Some genetic factors that affect the development of the fetus are Phenylketonuria, Sickle-cell Anemia, Tay-Sachs Disease, and Down Syndrome (Feldman 402). Some environmental teratogens that affect the development of the fetus are disease, toxic substances, the mothers age and well-being (Feldman 403). Teratogens are environmental agents such as drugs, chemicals, viruses, or other factors that produce a birth defect (Feldman 403).

Food aversions cause reduced nutrient intake in pregnant women as they experience weight loss during their first trimester (Tierson, Olsen and Hook, 1986). Although this may protect the embryos, it may increase cardiovascular and behavioural diseases when they are grown up (Watkins et al. 2008). The maternal threshold for tolerating toxicity is lowered during the first trimester; it will then increase during the second and third trimesters (Profet, 1995). Profet (1995) explained that the lowering of toxin tolerance threshold in pregnant women as ‘hyperosmatic’ because they are

Although the fetus is protected by the womb, it is still connected to the outside world by its mother whom can affect the development by many factors like smoking, poor nutrition, alcohol to name but a few.