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City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

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Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#81

Post by captainredbeard »

LiquidSky wrote: post #25
jackcosgrove wrote: post #21

Every time I visit my relatives in their rural area, I feel a sense of liberation. The air is cleaner, there is less noise, you can hear the breeze, and even the sky seems bigger. You can see the Milky Way at night. Coming from a city, it's a relief. However I also know the dark side of rural areas, mainly substance abuse triggered by boredom and lack of opportunity. There is always a trade-off.

I feel the same way...for a day or so. Then I remember that it's the peace and serenity of a tomb and miss the city.

I think the magic combo is spending a large amount of time (not necessarily continuous) in nature with a large group of friends.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#82

Post by CompanionCuuube »

esoterica wrote: post #79
CompanionCuuube wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you at least accept the theory that human beings are not unique from other organisms regarding needed a minimum amount of space and that finding the amount is a valid goal?

The amount of space an animal requires refers to the total amount of space available for them to roam. It is not analogous to the size of a person’s home because people can leave their houses any time they want.

No, but it does relate to high density living where the home range of a person is more condensed. Additionally, we have studies regarding the negative effect of visitor density and intensity on animals.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#83

Post by CompanionCuuube »

LiquidSky wrote: post #25
jackcosgrove wrote: post #21

Every time I visit my relatives in their rural area, I feel a sense of liberation. The air is cleaner, there is less noise, you can hear the breeze, and even the sky seems bigger. You can see the Milky Way at night. Coming from a city, it's a relief. However I also know the dark side of rural areas, mainly substance abuse triggered by boredom and lack of opportunity. There is always a trade-off.

I feel the same way...for a day or so. Then I remember that it's the peace and serenity of a tomb and miss the city.

A tomb is normally defined as a place of no life, while the opposite is true. There is a lot of life and biodiversity in nature.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#84

Post by sigstoat »

crx07 wrote: post #60
magduf wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not my experience with rural areas at all. Instead, it's usually pretty noisy because of all the neighbors with barking dogs (yes, there are neighbors in rural areas; most people can't afford 40 acres all to themselves, so they live in little clusters), and it stinks because of the cow and horse manure. Just hope you're not located close to a pig farm. And of course there's all the noisy trucks everyone drives…

Thank you so much for making the counterpoint. I grew up in a rural setting and would give just about anything to take back that loss of years of my life. A few extras: * You can't exercise, because dogs don't just bark but also chase you, and no one cares or thinks you're the asshole for complaining because you're in the country. * Daily life is /very/ stressful. Forgot milk? Well, fuck you, buddy, because you're ei…

> Daily life is /very/ stressful. [...] Want a pizza delivered? Nope. Chinese? Hahah.

uh. if that constitutes stressful, how do you survive receiving bad personal news?

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#85

Post by Broken_Hippo »

magduf wrote: post #76
crx07 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you so much for making the counterpoint. I grew up in a rural setting and would give just about anything to take back that loss of years of my life. A few extras: * You can't exercise, because dogs don't just bark but also chase you, and no one cares or thinks you're the asshole for complaining because you're in the country. * Daily life is /very/ stressful. Forgot milk? Well, fuck you, buddy, because you're ei…

>(And if it's sadness or fear or anxiety, expect to have everyone suggest spurious religious interpretations instead of physical explanations, which, honestly, as a devout Christian, I now find really damaging both to peoples mental and spiritual health.) Yep, I've seen this with Christians: "you have mental problems because you have demons in you!" This kind of thinking is extremely common in rural America these day…

"Wells are pretty expensive. Sure, the water itself is free, but the electricity to run the pump is not, and even at the frequently cheaper electric rates that rural areas enjoy, it adds up."

Having had wells... The electricity isn't the least of it. These things require regular servicing. Hopefully, you aren't unlucky enough to have it back up... which happened to my mother soon after moving into a newly purchased home. You need to watch the toilet paper you use because some are better than others.

Not to mention the need for a water softener in some areas. I've lived in areas whose water smelled of rotten eggs. This same water would turn hair and white clothing and everything else an orange shade.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#86

Post by neilv »

spinach wrote: post #18

I live in a residential area in a city and there is nothing worse than the sound of a lawn mower. Those are seriously stress-inducing and awful.

Here (small lots, affluent people who pay landscapers to come by frequently for nebulous reasons) the real scourge is weekday unnecessary leafblowers. I think we've raised awareness in the last year, and leafblower use so far this season has dropped dramatically, but we'll see what September is like. We might have to try to outlaw leafblowers like some other Boston area places have.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#87

Post by UnpossibleJim »

There's also new research linking an immune response to a virus as a reason for schizophrenia, which could explain living in urban centers (aka being in constant contact with carriers), as one reason for some of the higher rates of mental illness:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/...

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#88

Post by opportune »

magduf wrote: post #77
camjohnson26 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I smell more sewage in the city I live in than cow manure or pig farms visiting the rural areas.

Do you live in NYC? That city really does stink. However, I just spent 2 weeks in Japanese cities, including almost a week in Tokyo, and it was extremely clean. Even on trash day it didn't stink.

It can stink sometimes down by the canals

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#89

Post by username444 »

magduf wrote: post #73
CompanionCuuube wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's another point for why universal basic income is needed. It reduces perverse incentives that make people unhealthier.

Maybe, but the simple fact is that city living is far more efficient than rural living. Having a car is a luxury in much of the world, and has a huge toll on the environment, as well as simply being expensive compared to walking. Rural life in America requires a car, full stop. Should people be given enough UBI to afford to live this way? I don't think so. Enough money to live in a small apartment in a city with a ro…

I don't think it's useful to add conditions to UBI - if you want to spend your UBI on a car and I don't agree with that, it's tough luck for me.

You do raise a valid point, which is that a car is a luxury. Having lots of land is a luxury. Having kids is a luxury. Living in a long Urban center where the grocery store is a 2 minute walk away is a luxury.

It's up to the people receiving the UBI to decide which luxuries they want to spend it on. You can't have it all unless you can earn enough to pay for it all.

Re: City residents live with mental illness at higher rates than general population

#90

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

zaroth wrote: post #78
z9e wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with most of this, but I think your observation on religion is exaggerated. It's a very personal thing and I think it still helps a lot of people cope, regardless of how un-cool it is these days.

In the big picture, with amount of killing that has been done in the name of religion over millennia, I just find it hard to reconcile.

In terms of body count, more people have been killed in the name of science than in the name of religion.
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