How Social Determinants of Mental Health Influence Clinical Dimensions of Mental Disorders

Social determinants of health have been examined for several years in many fields of medicine. The importance of considering these factors when discussing mental health is indisputable, as the role of environmental interference cannot and must not be minimised. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the social determinants of mental health, making a distinction between individual-level and area-level determinants. From a public health standpoint, it seems increasingly important to distinguish between factors acting on a personal level and those acting on areas. Indeed, this makes it possible to better understand how the pressures exerted by certain factors are distributed, in a more or less targeted manner, throughout society, influencing different clinical domains. In order to provide a comprehensive approach, we will address transversal dimensions of psychiatric disorders, such as aggressivity, suicide, psychosocial functioning and loneliness. These dimensions are represented to varying degrees in the large spectrum of mental disorders, reflecting the multifaceted nature of this field and aiming to provide an alternative point of view to standard nosology.