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

popsci.com

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

#61

Post by b_t_s »

lr4444lr wrote: post #14
CalRobert wrote: post #2

Cities are great, if you build them for people, and not cars. We don't do this anymore (outside a few exemplar places like Denmark, NL, etc.), sadly.

When I was in Copenhagen 4 years ago, cars were pretty plentiful. (Not so much street parking.) I read that car ownership there is about 30%. Where were you thinking of?

For the average American that's like saying that "30% of the population of this city has legs". Sure that's a lot of people walking around, but if you look around and 70% of the population is in wheelchairs, thats pretty stunning. I've been to Copenhagen. It was lovely. I walked and took public transport everywhere. But the streets _were_ eerily deserted of motor vehicles as compared to any non-European city I've visited.

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

#62

Post by CalRobert »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #9
CalRobert wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric cars don't solve: * kids being killed if they try to play in the street * urban centres being destroyed by parking lots * elderly people being terrified to cross the street * Dead cyclists etc...

They do solve allowing those of us who want to live in rural areas to do so in an environmentally friendly way. No cities please.

I live in a very rural area. On three sides of my acreage are cattle.

When I drive in to the city, which I do sometimes, I am imposing a cost on everyone living in that city because I chose to drive.

I still do it sometimes - if I'm going to Ikea I'm not carrying my stuff home on the train - but let's not pretend it isn't a burden on others.

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

#63

Post by CalRobert »

merpnderp wrote: post #6
maxsilver wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why electric cars are so important. No exhaust, no noise. They're perfect for urban use.

Electric self driving cars are so important. Sitting in and navigating traffic are huge sources of stress for urbanites. White knuckling it at 70mph in bumper to bumper traffic, or spending 45 minutes in stop and go traffic twice a day, are certainly high stress situations.

That doesn't sound like a real city, tbh. Just a sprawling suburb. TBF 98% of what the US calls "cities" are just giant suburbs of themselves.

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

#64

Post by CalRobert »

lr4444lr wrote: post #14
CalRobert wrote: post #2

Cities are great, if you build them for people, and not cars. We don't do this anymore (outside a few exemplar places like Denmark, NL, etc.), sadly.

When I was in Copenhagen 4 years ago, cars were pretty plentiful. (Not so much street parking.) I read that car ownership there is about 30%. Where were you thinking of?

Cars are indeed around - and Copenhagen was as car-choked as anywhere else as recently as the 70's. DK/NL cuture shifted in part because of protests saying "Stop using your car to kill children"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands

I've driven in Amsterdam and paradoxically it's a hell of a lot nicer than driving in, say, LA.

I don't wish to conflate Denmark and the Netherlands but they've both made huge improvements in similar fashion with respect to livable cities. If career allows it I might still move because I want to live somewhere my child can ride a bike to school. Houten comes to mind.

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

#65

Post by CalRobert »

kelnos wrote: post #10
maxsilver wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why electric cars are so important. No exhaust, no noise. They're perfect for urban use.

Exhaust and noise is a problem certainly, but IMO a bigger problem is the ridiculous amount of space that gets reserved to support cars that could be used to support people instead.

If only residents went to planning meetings to complain about a lack of places for people to sleep, instead of for cars to sleep.

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

#66

Post by [deleted] »

CalRobert wrote: post #62
toomuchtodo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do solve allowing those of us who want to live in rural areas to do so in an environmentally friendly way. No cities please.

I live in a very rural area. On three sides of my acreage are cattle. When I drive in to the city, which I do sometimes, I am imposing a cost on everyone living in that city because I chose to drive. I still do it sometimes - if I'm going to Ikea I'm not carrying my stuff home on the train - but let's not pretend it isn't a burden on others.

[deleted]

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

#67

Post by kitsunesoba »

username444 wrote: post #33
challenger22 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What evidence do you have for this claim? The article just laid down a lot of evidence that contradicts what you say.

Not evidence. Just anecdotal. Half my extended family lives in rural areas. Cities arent perfect. I'm absolutely stressed over the hectic pace of a large city. But I'm not depressed and hopeless like those I know in rural areas. Maybe we each have to pick our poison.

It’s also worth noting that not all cities are equal when it comes to stress, with some being worse than others (mostly correlated with quality of public infrastructure, in my experience).

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

#68

Post by balfirevic »

eslaught wrote: post #8
challenger22 wrote: post #3

>In fact, the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health estimates that city dwellers face a nearly 40 percent higher risk of depression, 20 percent higher chance of anxiety, and double the risk of schizophrenia than people living in rural areas. >In their review, Meyer-Lindenberg and van den Bosch found that some potential threats had been examined more thoroughly than others. For some, including pollen, there wasn’t…

Consider: for pretty much any animal I'm aware of, there's a notion of the minimum amount of space it needs to live normally. Somehow for people we've convinced ourselves that there is no such minimum (or it's so small as to be absurd).

What do you consider acceptable minimal amount of space for a human being?

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

#69

Post by z9e »

zaroth wrote: post #46

Not to be overly melodramatic or sardonic but life is damaging to mental health, urban, rural, or otherwise. And not just modern life, but rather it is, I believe, our human condition. Too many of the people I meet are ground down, sliding by, holding on, grappling with their identity and place in the world, somewhere on the scale of mildly scarred to full blown post traumatic, anxiety ridden, and/or profoundly lost.…

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.

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

#70

Post by wearenotsafe »

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.

It sounds strange to label something brimming with life as "tomb". If nature is a tomb then a city is a prison.
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