Study: Living in Cities Puts You at Higher Risk of Mental Illness
- Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:50pm by
Billy Hallowell
- Print »
- Email »
Does living in an urban area really put you at greater risk for developing mental illness? That’s what a new German study has found. When comparing country residents to their urban counterparts, researchers found that city slickers are more prone to feel stress — especially social stress.
Wired.com reports that, although the study doesn‘t indicate what particular aspects of city life had altered the students’ brains, it does provide a springboard for future exploration:
“Whether people are exposed to noise, live near a park, have a big group of friends or not — you can do those experiments, and tease apart which parts of urban living are associated with these changes,” said Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, a psychiatrist at German’s Central Institute of Mental Health.
Meyer-Lindenberg’s findings, published June 23 in Nature, are a neurological investigation into the underpinnings of a disturbing social trend: As a rule, city life seems to generate mental illness.
Wired also explains that past studies have concluded that city residents have more anxiety and are found to also have higher levels of mood disorders. Risk for schizophrenia among urbanites is nearly double as well.
To some, these findings won’t come as a surprise. Cities are generally more stressful places. They typically include frantic people rushing about, and a plethora of loud noise raging incessantly. Thus, researchers may be onto something.
Here’s how the study was conducted: Researchers tested 32 German students (16 males and 16 females). Prior to the test, heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormones were taken into account. All of the subjects, regardless of city or country residency, had similar personalities and health indicators. Wired has more:
During the test itself, the students were put inside a brain-scanning fMRI machine, then asked to take a computerized math test designed to be socially stressful: Each correct answer was followed by more difficult questions, false feedback told each student that his or her score was exceptionally low, instructors glared disapprovingly and bemoaned the waste of money.
The city kids displayed heightened levels of activity in two brain regions: the amygdala, which is central to processing emotion and stress, and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, which regulates the amygdala. In short, city brains had disproportionately amplified responses to social stress. They’d become sensitized.
In a repeat of the study with additional subjects, the same results occurred. It turns out, the larger the city, the more active the amygdala and cingulate cortex were. Bottom line: City life, according to the research, has profound effects on those who experience it.
With more and more people living in urban areas, understanding the impact that conditions have on human beings is essential. To fully grasp the entire impact, further research with more intricate processes will need to be undertaken.
What do you think?
Popular Stories
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 586 Comments
‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 413 Comments
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 375 Comments
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 370 Comments
Faith
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 413 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 370 Comments
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 151 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 303 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (116)
orion1958
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:05pmI could have told them that living in a urban area will cause mental illness. LOL It drives me nuts every time I go into a big urban area. LOL
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:01pmThis is just too easy to say something caddy about …
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:56pmwell if your not im going to…. Well that explains everyone in NYC San-Freakscisco Chicago LA Miami and Washington DC.
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:54pmI grew up in Denver. Lived in Southern California (sadly). Moved back to Denver and then to a small town (15,000 people) in Oregon. I now reside in a rural town in Kansas. We have 100 people here (150 if the bar’s open). I feel my sanity growing by the day! Thank God for the country life. The government/UN can go pee up a rope with their Agenda 21. GET OFF MY PORCH!
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:52pmI like my space. I don‘t like to hear my neighbors conversations and quarrels and I don’t want them to hear mine. I like my little bit of green space around my little piece of the planet. I would go nuts in a dense, urban living arrangement. I hate cities and can understand why urbanites have problems with it too.
Report Post »mikee1
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:50pmSo that explains the Dummycraps.
Report Post »Fernyyy
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:49pmDerp…Urban-types tend to be liberal. Rural-types tend to be conservative. We’ve had this proof for years.
Report Post »last frontier
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:45pmAnd that’s where agenda 21 comes in, they want us ALL crazy.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:39pmSo that is what’s wrong with Washington. That explains everything.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:39pmWell a, in that case I guess they better have all the Negros go out and takeover everyone’s farms.
Report Post »flattop
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:38pmI’d believe this. I spent 8 months in Philadelphia attending school at La Salle College. The day I left felt like I was leaving a prison/nuthouse. Happiness is … seeing Philadelphia (or any big city) in your rear view mirror.
I remember walking from class to the dorm one night and walking past some people who must have thought I was Chinese. I’m white. But, they kept calling me Sai Foo. Like in, “Saiiiii, Fooooo. Watchu doing out this time of night?”
Report Post »chips1
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:37pmDUH. Hi. Are you my daddy? DUH!!!!!!
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:26pmwell,that will explain why this communist administration is trying to take control of all rural land. i love living 15 miles either way from any store,and 20 plus miles from the nearest town, no noise ,just hogs,dogs,cows ,horses,frogs,crickets,birds and ect, now that is music not noise,they can keep all that noise pollution,air pollution and communist pollution,that might make them all crazy, especially in Chicago.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:25pmIt didn’t mention anything about being born in a thatched hut in Kenya. They must have edited that part.
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:20pmThis agenda 21 is where the line is drawn, if he tries to enforce this there will be repercussions. This is the communist dictators final move that will motivate people to remove this liberal savage in office. Read it and reap Soros!
Report Post »ARealCharliesAngel
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:18pmI moved to the country from the big city of Dayton, Ohio…..and still retained and have grown my Conservative principles. So there!
Report Post »wisehiney
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:16pmLike Foghat sang….“Fool for the city”
Report Post »Nervous Investor
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:15pm… this is news …….
Report Post »AmericanSince1619
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:09pmDidn’t the Obama administration say they wanted people to migrate to the cities?
Guess they were figuring that country folks that move to the city will vote liberal…
Looks like country folks move to the city, develop mental illness, then vote liberal. I vote for staying the country and sane.
Report Post »mom4times
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:10pmAmen!!!
Report Post »the wireworker
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:08pmyet through agenda 21 they are trying to get people to be herded like cattle to the big cities through zoning regulations, energy regulations, and re- development.
Report Post »Bill in Virginia
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:06pmYep, now I know why Obama and Holder are so ignorant. They like to refer to themselves as the intellectual elite, but we know otherwise and now we have proof!
:-)
Report Post »mom4times
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:06pm“I’m from the country and I like it that way” Tracy Byrd……that’s all I got ta say about that!
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:55pmThat could very well explain the problem with liberalism because it comes from cities, nicely done, mental illness.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:27pmLiberalism starting in cities? Indeed just look to DC and there is the perfect proof of it.
Report Post »santramir
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:54pmstart media-desidiotizing yourself, go: http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=641#comment-331355
Report Post »semihardrock
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:44pmlet me guess…another George Soros website pretending to be a white supremacist!
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:53pmHAHAHHAHAHAHAH Proof is in the pudding!
Report Post »NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:53pmAnyone who lives in a big city is mentally ill in my book.
Report Post »cobra two
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:58pmAmen to that.
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:59pmOnly in New York, San Francisco and Chicago
Report Post »silentwatcher
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:01pmyea,,,look at what has happened to the politicians in D.C.-they’ve developed a distorted line of reasoning.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:02pmI lived in Houston for 18 years. I moved out and regained my sanity….I will NEVER live in a big city again.
Report Post »Washingron DC is surely our nation’s nuthouse…
CatB
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:08pmCHICAGO .. that explains it!
TEA!
Report Post »OlefromMN
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:10pmThat explains a great saying our local radio host uses. The closer you get to the nations tallest buildings the greater chance you have of running into liberals (mysterians is what he calls them).
Report Post »1stAmendment
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:12pmEspecially in NYC with high taxes and non stop government restrictions!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:20pmDC is the only proof one with such a study going on needs to look.
Report Post »Cymry
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:49pmThere is another study that shows that Liberalism is a mental disorder (not kidding). Okay, big cities = mental instability, liberalism = mental instability……. that’s what I would call double-jeopardy.
The liberals are communists because they don’t believe in God. Atheists are atheists because they can’t live the lives they want to if there is a God.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:50pmBorn in the country, Lived 25 years in the City, DC aera, Back in the country NOW YEEEEHAWWW!!!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:55pmSo DR Savage is right! Liberalism is a mental disorder. liberals congregate in cities; cause city life mental illness — result : liberals.
Please note not all city dwellers are liberals.
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:09pmLiving in the city with fast traffic,congested traffic, rude people,it’s no wonder people get stressed out,ohh and traffif jams,only traffic jam close to me is when a farmer drives his tractor thru town,the closest town to me dosen’t even have a traffic light,yep i love the country and the good Lord has blessed me here
Report Post »LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:12pm… I was born on a Mountain and Raised in a Cave…………….lol
many times when a person goes to the Mountains they will stand in awww and say look what GOD made, and i look at it every day… If i was forced to live in NYC. i would find my way to Central Park and live in a tent to keep my sanity
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:27pmI didn’t need a study to tell me this. C’mon people, who here really needed a ‘STUDY’ to tell you that there are more nut-bags in Cities than other places? I want to see a study done on these idiots that do these studies!
http://www.AMillionGoWest.com – Help us get 1 million signatures on a petition that asks Allen West to run for President in 2012.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:41pmdealer@678
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 9:59pm
Only in New York, San Francisco and Chicago
=================================
Sorry, I wish you were right. I live in a small southern city and half of this city is BAT-S*IT CRAZY. The people here are so nuts that the street people are the normal ones around here. We have a large contingency of tree-huggers that will go out in the woods (and I am NOT making this up) sit around the base of big trees and cry for hours on end and pray to the tree. My fav so far was a guy I met at a bar a few years back. He was the typical tree-hugging hippie. We got into a bit of an argument about cutting down trees. He kept to the envirnmental BS line about not cutting down any trees because they live and breath like we do, blah, blah, blah. I simply kept to my argument of trees being a renewable resource. I had to end the argument because I was laughing too hard… he mentioned that he was a carpenter by trade. Others around us heard him to and they started laughing. What the heck did this “carpenter” use to ply his trade if not….. WOOD!?
Anyway, stay out of cities, they have too many liberals, hippies, marxists, progressives, anarchists, democrats… well you get the idea.
http://www.AMillionGoWest.com – Help us get 1 million signatures on a petition that asks Allen West to run for President in 2012.
Report Post »Oil_Robb
Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:59pmIt will drive you nuts….the Taxes the stress the crime and the Stupidity of political correctness
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:07amFluoride and Uranium in our water.
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:08amThey want to put Lithium in your water, along with the Fluoride and Uranium.
For your “mental illness” protection.
Report Post »poorrichardsnews
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:11amIs it just that more liberals live in cities? OOOOOOH! yuk yuk!
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:11amSHOOT!
Report Post »They could have paid me all that money they spent on this study and I could have told them that years ago. Did I miss it? Who actually did the study. Did I help pay for it with my taxes? Now I’m ticked. They spent alot of money to tell us something that most people already know anyway?
Sounds like another 1,000 dollar hammer to me!
drattastic
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:13amThey forgot the biggest evidence of mental illness in urban dwellers ,voting democrat and buying into the progressive agenda ,hook ,line and sinker.
Report Post »the hawk
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:35amMAYBE THE cia KEEPS SMUGLING POT INTO THE CITIES?
Report Post »Patrick in AZ
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:38amStudy: Living in Cities Puts You at Higher Risk of Mental Illness
Report Post »—————————————–
that explains so much
fastfacts
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:47amTrue, anyone that has ever driven through New York City will see how this is true. You end up not knowing which direction you are driving. Then you have everyone honking at you, cutting you off, and if you don’t cut someone off, you will never get into the next lane, there is no being polite on the roads in NYC.
Something else that is interesting about big liberal cities like NYC and NJ, etc. They aren’t free. Not toll roads and taxes, I mean human freedoms.
Have you seen the map labeling which are the free-est and least free states, here is the video explaining it and click on the title to find your state, quite interesting: http://tiny.cc/4wjuo
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 12:50amyou idi$ts!.. some of the best greatest discoveries in medicine comes out of cities like NY… you’re mentally ill if you think this imaginary god exists
Report Post »masterplan
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 1:07amThey need to watch some John Wayne movies and relax.
Report Post »ME
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 1:20am@NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
right on!!!!
Living in mans creation of concrete and filth with a few green areas here and there it no wonder someone would think there is no God.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 2:15amThere are more libs in cities……..so yes
Report Post »GadsdenPatriot
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 3:27amAddition to study…that explains why so many cramped large cities are blue!
Liberals are brain damaged!!!
Report Post »Patrick920
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 4:34amSilly comment.
Report Post »GadsdenPatriot
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 4:55amLiberals ARE mentally ill: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56494
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 7:39amI believe it.
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:29amNeocons are just as mentally ill, if not moreso.
Neocons really ARE liberals. They support those social programs too. They’re just more warmongering than liberals.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:30amCould have saved them some money.
Look at peloser – er, pelosi, and her tinfoil-hat-wearing constituents.
Big cities are mentally-incestuous, mob-mentality hotbeds.
They develop socialist transportation and other programs, because there is not enough room for individuality and individual space – so, they have to figure out how to share space – they do this through socialist programs – they begin to believe their socialist ways are the best way for everybody – not just for themselves. They are surrounded by like-minded people, and are not exposed to individuals who value freedom and liberty, so their only feedback serves to amplify their opinions – this creates a ‘righteous’ mentality and polarizes them. It becomes their belief system – their value system. When confronted with facts, they rationalize their beliefs rather than adjust their perceptions. They are prejudiced, accusatory, and closed-minded. They have learned to get their way in a closed-system. But, in a free and democratic republic, they have difficulty controlling others, or forcing their beliefs on others. In a closed system (city), they can surround an individual and shout them down. That doesn’t work on a national scale.
Truth and freedom will always win in the end.
Freedom is the natural state of man. We will ALWAYS seek it out. It is our nature.
(wow – I didn’t even have to invoke the name of God!)
Report Post »Jake in Denver
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:13amNothing new here.
“I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Report Post »TheCenturion
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:59pmWell, that explains a LOT about New Yorkers. Love ya, Glenn. :)
Report Post »