Why in highly populated areas such as cities there is more sz

DX'd - Other
1

I read that in highly populated areas such as cities there is more schizophrenia than in rural areas. Any ideas why this is so?

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Tends to be the big give away as SZ make up one percent of the population on the planet. Higher population more SZ in the density of people.

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Maybe in rural areas the life is less stressful than in highly populated areas, and we know that stress triggers sz. Just one thought.

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Suicide rates just as high if not higher in rural areas. Farms being foreclosed by the banks etc. Stress Free farming is yet to be invented. It’s their livelihood. Many sell everything they got to make a go of it. Lack of mental health support etc. . So fail to see the stress free lifestyle.

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5

Close quarters breeds stress. In animals at least it does.

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6

More people ? …

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I would guess stress too. Due to environment. Like Maggotbrain says. You cram too many people or animals in to tightly a space and they turn on each other.

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No idea, but I know that access to services is more difficult in some rural areas. The mental health system is completely broken where I live, leaving the cops acting as intermediaries. You have to sign a specific three sentence form to a judge, then the judge has to approve or deny your request for a hearing. Then you have to get the mentally unwell person to the hearing, but they might just not show up. Then they get a psychiatric evaluation, and one person–the judge–deems whether this individual needs mental health treatment. Then the person is hospitalized. There is no middle ground, no way for families to intervene. It’s messed up. So the younger generation with mental issues have turned to heroin and alcohol and don’t even know or believe they have schizophrenia. In some ways, the people with the actual disorder might be protected but from personal experience, it leaves them isolated and poor. So the people with mental health issues either have a person with resources who can afford to support them, or they turn to friends. People here are also very co-dependent with friends and it’s a more supportive environment. Because instead of turning to laws or government officials, we are left to fend for ourselves and carve out an existence in poverty like conditions that force us to work at a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

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Many models feature someone’s social network as an environmental factor in developing schizophrenia. Now paradoxically, social networks for people in cities tend to be less strong than in rural areas. Yes there are more people, but people tend to live more individualistically in cities. In rural areas people tend more to check up on each other, the ties are stronger so to speak. Now loneliness is not a final cause but usually taken to be a contributing factor in developing schizophrenia.

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Unnatural setting. Crowded. Pollution. Pressure of competition. Traffic. Exposure to excess noise (sirens, horns, vehicle engines, strangers yelling on the street, machinery, loud music, etc)

Living in the city every few days i had to drive out to the woods and mountains. there was an immediate change in attitude. In the city I would feel the pressure building and it was very uncomfortable. A few hours or a day or 2 in the woods alleviated this problem and I’d be ok for a few more days, maybe a week.

Yes, the rural country has its problems too but it is a much more laid back setting, and natural as much as you want to keep it natural…

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