Diathesis-Stress Theory states that psychological disorders develop due to a combination of genetic

vulnerability and risk factors in the environment.

Lets say someone inherited genes that put them at risk for schizophrenia. According to the diathesis-stress
model of schizophrenia, the at-risk person might avoid developing the disease if stress in their life is low. But
high levels of stress could trigger onset of the disease. Possible environmental stressors include family conflict,
abuse, trauma, problems at school, rejection by peers, and even poor nutrition

The diathesis stress model views psychological disease as the result of the interaction between a
person's vulnerability for a disorder and stress. A susceptible individual may never manifest a mental
illness until he encounters a type or degree of stress that is enough to trigger it. It seeks to explain
how different people may respond differently to the same source of stress.

The Theory
The diatheses stress model is one of several theories used over decades to try to understand and
explain the complexities of psychological illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. This model

believes that people develop a psychological disorder in response to stress because they have an
underlying predisposition to the disease.
This underlying vulnerability (diathesis) comes from genetics, or biologic predisposing factors.
Environmental stresses interact with the diathesis to trigger a psychological disease in a person.
In this theory, neither predisposition nor stress alone can trigger mental illness, rather, stress triggers
the diathesis and both interact in some way to manifest the disease state. The more vulnerable a
person is and the lower his threshold, the less stress it takes to trigger a disorder.

Individual Variation
Vulnerability explains why one person may develop depression or a major psychiatric disorder while
another does not, even though they encounter the same stress. Because the level of diathesis and
resilience varies from one person to the other, people vary in how they respond.

The Predisposition
The diathesis or vulnerability to a psychological disorder lies quiet until a person encounters stresses
in his environment. Diathesis factors can include:

Genetics, such as having a family history of a psychological disorder that might be

related defective genes

Biologic, such as oxygen deprivation at birth or poor nutrition during early childhood

Childhood experiences, such as isolation, loneliness or shyness that creates a

distorted view of the world

Part of the theory is that everyone has a certain level of vulnerability and a certain threshold for a
stress to trigger disease. The more vulnerable you are and the lower your threshold, the more likely
that a mental disorder will manifest.

Stress Factors
Stress factors that can interact with a person's predisposition for psychological disease can range
from mild to major stressors and include:

Minor daily stress in home or external environment

Life events such as a family death, a divorce, starting school

Short-term factors such as a school or a work assignment

Long-term stress such as chronic pain or an ongoing illness

Modifying Protective Factors

Protective environmental factors can modify the interaction between diathesis and stress. Your
protective factors, or resilience, can prevent a mental illness. An individual's modifying factors might
include:

A protective social environment

Family nurturing

Healthy self esteem

A network of friends and strong social support

Normal psychological development and interaction during childhood

These protective factors can dampen negative interactions between stressors and vulnerability in an
individual.

Application of the Model

It is thought that the model can be viewed in different ways depending on the ways various diathesis
factors may interact with stress. The concept can also be applied differently depending on the
disorder. A theory also is that different psychological disorders are triggered by different underlying
diathesis and different stress factors.
For example, schizophrenia may be triggered in someone whose diathesis, for example, is worsened
by being raised in an isolated, unloving environment. In this case, stress may act at the level of the
hypothalamus and pituitary glands through the stress hormone cortisol to interact with the
underlying vulnerability to trigger or worsen the individual's schizophrenia.
Several risk factors that make up a person's predisposition, together with various environmental
conditions during development, may later interact with stresses and modifying factors to trigger one
psychological disorder or another in a susceptible person.

History
The term "diathesis-model" was first used in the 1960s as a theory to explain schizophrenia but has
since come to be applied to other psychological conditions such as:

Depression

Anxiety disorders

Manic-depressive disorder

Post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD)

Alcoholism

Sexual dysfunction

Personality disorders

Eating disorders

The model is now being applied to looking for modifications in genes that would explain genetic
susceptibility to disease