A new article published in JAMA Network Open found that participants experiencing psychosis had more severe psychotic symptoms if they lived in urban areas compared to rural areas. Participants living in socially and economically disadvantaged peri-urban areas had more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to participants living in more advantaged peri-urban and rural areas.
The study, led by Washington State University’s Oladunni Oluwoye, shows that policy changes to improve housing and infrastructure in disadvantaged and urban areas can improve mental health symptoms among people living in these areas. This suggests that the risk of psychosis may be reduced. The authors write:
“We found that, compared to rural neighborhoods, neighborhoods characterized by urbanity and environmental exposure (i.e., air and noise pollution) were unilaterally associated with more severe psychotic symptoms. found that more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms were specific to individuals residing in urban areas; they also had greater neighborhood deprivation (i.e., poorer housing conditions, poorer health, These results remained significant even after controlling for individual-level characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, education level, and household income.
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Richard Sears teaches psychology at West Georgia Tech and is pursuing a doctoral degree in consciousness and society at the University of West Georgia. He previously worked as an intake assessor and crisis line operator in the Crisis Stabilization Unit. His current research interests include the boundaries between organizations and their constituent individuals, the relationship between dehumanization and its exaltation, and natural alternatives to potentially harmful psychopharmacological interventions. Masu.
