Thanks Bushra! Mental health is definitely an important area to consider for health disparities with relationship to the socioecological model. You are absolutely right that people have argued for reverse causation (e.g. mental illness ->lower SES), but that does not seem to be the direction of causation for most mental illness (as you point out in your answer to the second question). We will talk about adverse childhood experiences tomorrow which definitely have relevance to this area. And I deeply appreciate your focus on broad policy issues and their importance in structural interventions around mental health - if you are taking the two unit course Rita Hamad will talk more about policy in week 6.
One area I have recently become interested in is childhood anxiety disorders - which are becoming increasingly common (as is suicidality), and while these are quite treatable, the resources needed to access therapy etc are out of reach for many who are the highest risk.