Posted on 09/06/2010 3:43:29 PM PDT by decimon
The association between psychotic disorders and living in urban areas appears to be a reflection of increased social fragmentation present within cities, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"There is a substantial worldwide variation in incidence rates of schizophrenia," the authors write as background in the article. "The clearest geographic pattern within this distribution of rates is that urban areas have a higher incidence of schizophrenia than rural areas." Characteristics of neighborhoods that have been associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis include population and ethnic density, deprivation and social fragmentation or reduced social capital and cohesion.
To examine whether individual, school or area characteristics are associated with psychosis and can explain the association with urbanicity (the quality of being urban), Stanley Zammit, Ph.D., of Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, and colleagues studied a total of 203,829 individuals living in Sweden, with data at the individual, school, municipality and county levels.
According to the findings, "the risk of nonaffective psychosis was higher in cities and towns than in rural areas." Of the 203,829 people in the study, 328 (0.16 percent) were ever admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, 741 (0.36 percent) with other nonaffective psychoses, 355 (0.17 percent) with affective psychoses and 953 (0.47 percent) with other psychoses. Additionally, the authors found that almost all variance in the risk of nonaffective psychosis was explained at the individual-level rather than at a higher-level variation. "An association between urbanicity and nonaffective psychosis was explained by higher-level characteristics, primarily school-level social fragmentation." The authors "observed cross-level markers of ethnicity, social fragmentation and deprivation on risk of developing any psychotic disorder, all with qualitative patterns of interaction."
The authors comment that, "being raised in more urbanized areas was associated with an increased risk of developing any nonaffective psychotic disorder." Additionally, "this association was explained primarily by area characteristics rather than by characteristics of the individuals themselves. Social fragmentation was the most important area characteristic that explained the increased risk of psychosis in individuals brought up in cities." The authors also note that, "our findings highlight the concern that physical integration alone is not sufficient but that some of the positive characteristics traditionally conferred by segregation, such as a localized sense of safety, cohesion and community spirit, must also be maintained to enhance the mental health of individuals within the population."
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(Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67[9]:914-922. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)
Editor's Note: This study was supported by the National Assembly for Wales and Swedish Research Council for Working Life and Social Research. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
nonaffective psychotic disorder = victimhood as is taught by community organizers
I live in a little town between Napoleon and Manchester. Really more of a village where I can see into the country from right here at the computer. My neighbor behind me is the only one who lives there year round and we don’t bother each other and we help each other out when we can.
My neighbor on the west is better than 200 yards away and lives in Florida for most of the year. The house on the other side is closer but he only stays a few days every so often. In front is the lake.
I get off and wander the state land all around here a couple times per month.
Saami and others close to their indigenous beasts.
Lucky lucky you. Before he moved, a friend of mine had a lovely house in the country. I loved the drive over there and enjoyed the drive back. Fantastic route and I savored every minute of it.
LOL!!
STE=Q
Oh, that’s true.
We’ve had neighbors who had a condos in the big city, mainly because the wives and kids would get stupid bored in the hinterlands. Something about ‘no malls out here’.
I say they weren’t imaginative enough.
It may sound hippie-ish but there is a stark beauty in silence. Step outside at 3 AM in a heavy snowfall and its so quiet you can literally hear the snow fallin on the ground.
I wonder how many city slickers have stood on a lake under the moonlight of a bitterly cold night and listened to the booming and singing of the ice. Pure awesomeness.
Amen brother.
That my friend is beautiful.
A siren call to take one more step, one more step.
It may sound hippie-ish but there is a stark beauty in silence.
&&
No, it is not a hippy notion, IMO. I know exactly what you mean. We lived in a busy suburban area prior to retiring here to a semi-rural area. I just love it here. When my children visit from the Baltimore area, I remind them to listen to the silence as we are sitting outside. I cherish the quiet and the wonderful views of the stars.
“I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice.”
Thomas Jefferson
I few years back a girlfriend from Toronto came and spent a couple weeks with her daughter. They both thought it was creepy like living in a deserted town.
later
Study examines association between obummer lying and psychotic disorders
Thomas Jefferson nailed it.
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