... so-called mental illness is not so much a 'chemical imbalance' as it is colloquially known but rather a result of 'bad life experiences'. This is shown in the case of schizophrenia, a mental aberration often thought of as having physiological cause, which exists at particularly high frequencies in the Caribbean population in the UK. A recent research study involved a comparison of West Indians with schizophrenia diagnoses living in London, with a matched group still living in the West Indies. The results show clearly that genetic (hence purely physiological factors) do not account for the levels of schizophrenia (Mallett R et al 2002). There must therefore be environmental factors with significant impact. In fact the authors implicate aspects such as employment status and living alone as contributory. However, if diagnosed in the UK, schizophrenia will most often be treated with drugs which have serious side effects and reduce normal fundtioning ...

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