Mental health disorders are notably widespread and can cause significant personal suffering and disability. In fact, the World Health Organization posits that nearly one in four individuals worldwide will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Given these statistics, it is critical to study these disorders and address their far-reaching impact on global health.
The occurrence of mental health disorders results from intricate interactions between an individual’s biology and their surrounding environment. Protective factors, such as higher educational achievement, routine physical exercise, and active social participation, can potentially mitigate the incidence rates of mental health disorders. On the other hand, risk factors like smoking, systemic low-grade inflammation, lower socioeconomic status, and less-than-optimal physical health conditions (for instance, self-evaluated poor health, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease) can potentially trigger the onset of mental health disorders.
Both individual and environmental factors can impact mental health by influencing the brain. Protective factors may result in an individual possessing a ‘healthy brain,’ whilst risk factors can expedite brain aging. We posit that multimodal MRI data can serve as a mediator in the association between the risk or protective elements and the development of disorders.
Consequently, our goal is to investigate how individual and environmental factors influence the evolution of mental health disorders. Our research aims are thus twofold: 1) We aim to identify factors that significantly accelerate or decelerate the development of mental health disorders. 2) We hope to elucidate the neural mechanisms that explain how these factors impact mental health.
