Duke University Study: Urban Living Stress Causes “Voices In Your Head”

Urban life may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. What is consistently presented as “hip” and “trendy” may actually be causing a detrimental effect on a person’s mental health, including an increased likelihood of experiencing psychotic episodes and hearing “voices” in the head, claims a new study.

A team from King’s College London and Duke University analysed 2,000 18-year-olds in major cities in England and Wales.

As Natural News, reports the team conducted surveys in which more than 5,000 immediate neighbors of the participants were assessed based on their personal experiences of crime and other urban factors. The answers to these surveys were then compiled and evaluated based on individual participants’ mental health states, including how they perceived the world around them versus what was actually happening around them.

Based on the results, the team concluded that among adolescents living in the largest and most densely populated cities, more than 34 percent of them reported at least one of 13 different psychotic symptoms. Conversely, only about 21 percent of adolescents living in more favorable neighborhoods reported psychotic symptoms, suggesting that living in urban environments directly contributes to the development of mental problems.

The scientists suggest a number of reasons why living in a city could pose a risk for psychotic experiences, including a heightened biological response to stress, which can in turn disrupt the activity of dopamine in the brain.

Excess dopamine is the best biological explanation researchers currently have for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.

The vast majority of cases of urban psychosis seem to develop in children, evidence suggests that adults are affected, too. And the earlier a person develops psychosis symptoms as a result of living in an city environment, the more likely he/she is to carry it on into late adolescence and even into adulthood.

The researchers noted that the later onset of psychosis development is still possible.

“Our study suggests that the effects of city life on psychotic experiences are not limited to childhood but continue into late adolescence, which is one of the peak ages at which clinical psychotic disorders are typically diagnosed,” says Jo Newbury, one of the co-authors of the study, also from King’s College, as quoted by the DailyMail Online.