Human ecology and mental illness

Psychiatrists and others in the mental health field have long been aware that forces within the surrounding social network effect both favorably and unfavorably the individual psyche and the course of mental illness, but the systematic use of such factors in therapy and prevention has awaited a model. The authors identify a beginning yet workable approach to what an APA task force termed "ecopsychiatry"; the model proposed is not that of traditional linear or cause-and-effect perspectives but is based on a systemic model derived originally form biological ecology.