The founder and principal owner of Greenbrier Academy for Girls, L. Jay Mitchell has established and led several therapeutic boarding programs over the past 40 years. During that time, L. Jay Mitchell has become familiar with various psychotherapy-related subjects, including the different causal mechanisms of varying conditions.
Causal mechanisms are specific pathways or processes that bring about a particular outcome. If the process is X and the outcome is Y, then X must occur for Y to occur. In situations where X is not present, then Y does not happen. This is part of what sets causation apart from correlation. It is a cause and effect relationship, not a relationship between two sets of variables.
With correlation, there isn’t a direct relationship between X and Y. The two may appear together in a positive relationship, meaning the variables increase or decrease together, or a negative relationship, where the variables increase or decrease opposite one another. However, the variables do not clearly cause one another. This suggests that Y is capable of occurring regardless of whether X occurred first. Rather, X and Y are often seen together even when they are not directly related.
This difference between causation and correlation is often difficult to define. Unless a specific causal mechanism is found that connects X and Y, the relationship between the two variables is regarded as a correlation.
