ABSTRACT
The social contributors to a mental disorder might take several forms. They might take the form of relationships with particular people, who might be individual family members, romantic partners, or social peers. They might also take the form of relationships to broader social phenomena, such as the attitudes and values that are, for better or worse, embodied in the culture. A mental disorder might be triggered by the disordering of one’s individual relationships, or by the disordering of one’s relationship to the broader social factors. Particular and general social factors might also contribute to the maintenance of a disorder, without being its initial trigger. In the case of a vascular birthmark, social factors contribute to the extent of the condition’s disorderliness. Social factors might, on the one hand, contribute to causing the occurrence of a condition. On the other hand, they might contribute to the fact that a condition is disorderly.
