Life in the City: How Does It Affect Our Mental Health?
As global migration reaches an all time high, and more and more people seek refuge in densely populated areas, urbanization and city living has created a unique landscape for its residents. While cities provide bountiful opportunities for work, education, socialization, and access to different types of services, it also comes with unique psychological challenges and questions about mental health. Does urbanization play a role in the development of symptoms such as a psychosis or depression? How exactly does urban living impact our mental health? This review aimed to address the various data and research that has been done to examine the mental health challenges associated with urban living.
Many researchers have proposed urban living as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, which was recently confirmed by a large study conducted across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. This study found that individuals who had an increased genetic risk of developing schizophrenia tended to reside in dense urban areas. However, we should be careful not to jump to the conclusion that urban living causes schizophrenia. Researchers have been looking into other factors that could play an interactive role in this relationship, such as personality type. An interactive view like this suggests that urban living is merely an additional factor influencing the expression of psychotic symptoms in individuals who may be vulnerable to these disorders.
As humans, we all have the natural urge to seek out contact and create meaningful relationships with others. Cities are densely packed with lots of different people; so in theory, there should be many opportunities to meet others and form bonds. However, that doesn’t always seem to be the case and city dwellers often struggle to develop meaningful social bonds. Urban living has in fact been associated with increased feelings of isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. In such a fast paced city environment, it is not uncommon to feel disconnected from those around us. A review has shown that depressive mood was closely related to the lack of green areas and large amounts of noise and air pollution found in cities. While urbanization and technological advances have been seen as progress for society, it may be that our globalized and densely populated world which we live in can be quite stressful for many people! A possible explanation is that symptoms of depression may be a way to adapt to the everyday stress that people in cities experience. Despite this, there is no significant evidence showing that depression and other mental disorders are more prevalent in urban areas compared to rural areas, so we should be cautious of any early conclusions directly relating urban living to these disorders.
Another perspective to keep in mind is that much of the research and evidence linking urbanization to risk factors for psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia has been conducted in high income countries. Much less research has been done on the effects of urbanization and mental health in developing countries. However, a recent study on adults in low and middle income countries found evidence of urbanicity to be a complex result of patterns of cannabis ruse, racial discrimination, and socioeconomic disparities varying between nations with high and low incomes. This suggests urbanization may be more of a problem in developing countries when combined with the other troubles they face, and highlights the need for research to be representative of countries of varying income.
With all this being said, how can we find a solution? It is clear that city living plays a complex role in our mental health experiences - so what can cities do to improve our wellbeing? Nature and greenery appear to play a big role in improving health and well-being, with researchers demonstrating the importance of integrating more green space into urban areas to reduce levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. A practice called “forest bathing” in Japan, during which people passively view or actively engage in forest landscapes, has shown beneficial effects on physiological stress markers in our bodies, such as pulse rate, blood pressure, and cortisol. While immersing yourself in nature may not be the solution to all the stress faced in a fast paced urban environment, a study has shown that nature-assisted therapies, when combined with stress and behavioural rehabilitation programs have a positive impact on work related stress.
Cities are diverse places for us to learn, grow, embrace different lifestyles, cultures, and engage in intellectual and aesthetic experiences. However, city living can still be harmful to our mental health and wellbeing when combined with other biological, social, and environmental factors in our lives. Urbanization and growing populations in our cities is inevitable, so there needs to be unified work done across various health and government sectors to create urban environments that are mindful of these issues and make strides to promote good mental health. This can be achieved through the implementation of preventative methods including the integration of green areas and walkable spaces, and tackling issues such as noise pollution, poverty, and violence.
Source:
Lecic-Tosevski, D. (2019). Is urban living good for mental health? Current Opinion in Psychiatry. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000489
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