1. Rapid Urbanization and mental illness
Professor Kwame McKenzie MD

2. Trends in urbanization
Globalization brought with it rapid urbanization
Percentage increase greater in low income countries
By % of urban dwellers in low income countries  

3. Urbanization challenge to government
Make cities more hospitable venues for economic development
Make social environment of cities suitable for people

4. Urban environment and mental illness Social capital
Outline of talk
4 parts to talk
Urban environment and mental illness
Social capital
Impact of urbanisation on social capital
Social capital, urbanisation and mental health

5. Urban environment and mental illness

6. Urban environment and mental illness
The research not consistent
Increased rates urban vs rural areas in high income countries:
depression, psychotic disorders, substance misuse and some eating disorders
68–77% greater risk of psychosis
12–20% increased risk of depression
(Blazer et al., 1987;Kessler et al., 1994; Marcelis et al., 1998; Robins & Regier, 1991; Romans- Clarkson et al., 1990; Van Os et al., 2001, 2002, undquist et al., 2004).).

7. Urban environment and mental illness
Increased rates not due to drift alone
Eg, for psychosis:
Being born and brought up in a city are risk factors.
The risk increases as the size of the city increases.
Longer you live in a city when you are young, the higher your risk for developing psychosis
(Boydell and McKenzie, 2008).

8. Urban environment and mental illness
Urban environment changes the exposure to risk:
Malnutrition and infection during pregnancy
Drug use
Life events and chronic daily hassles
Social isolation
And action of risk factors
Clustering of individuals with schizophrenia in deprived areas occurs only in urban environments
Genetic vulnerability amplified
(McKenzie 2007)

9. Urban environment and mental illness
May be more stressful social environment
Social structures such as social networks may not be as active
However, more services available and potentially higher standard of living

10. Rapid urbanization and mental illness
Rapid urbanization adds 3 other dimensions
migration
impact of rapid socio-cultural change
Development of new environments with new risks

11. Rapid urbanization increased migration
Migration – 3 impacts on health
Pre-migration,
migration,
Post-migration

12. Rapid urbanization and rapid social change
Individual:
identity, anomie,
Family strain:
breakdown of families – isolation and domestic violence
Community:
competition for resources
social exclusion of marginalized groups
inadequate community support

13. Rapid urbanization produces new environments
Environments more likely to be characterized by: (poor housing, crowding)
Poor working conditions, underemployment,
Food shortage,
Human rights violations
Inadequate social infrastructure (health & education)
(World Bank, 2000).

15. Problems due to migration Problems due to rapid socio-cultural change
A perfect storm
Problems due to migration
Problems due to rapid socio-cultural change
Development of a toxic environment

16. How can we build better environments?
A way forward?
How can we build better environments?
Planning infrastructure important but also planning social structures
What social structures are needed for communities to survive and promote health?
One concept that is increasingly being proffered as a way of understanding social structures is social capital

17. Social capital and mental health

18. Theory: What is social capital?
Social capital is a way of describing social processes that shape communities or groups of people.
There are a number of competing definitions
It is a complex variable

19. Theory: Popular definitions
“By social capital I mean features of social life – networks, norms and trust – that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives”
Putnam
Attempts to describe the forces that shape the quantity and quality of social interactions and institutions “the glue that holds society together”
Kawachi.

20. Theory: Sub-definitions
Structural
Roles, rules, behaviours, networks, institutions
Eg numbers of groups, membership, participation
Cognitive
Values, attitudes, beliefs that produce co-operative behaviour
Eg – trust, community spirit, efficacy

21. Theory: Sub-definitions
Bonding
Between individuals in families
Bridging
Between different groups in a society

22. Theory: Sub-definitions
Horizontal
Between individuals and groups at similar levels in a society
Vertical
Between different strata in society and ability to control government etc.

23. Social capital in US High social capital: Low High all cause mortality
morbidity
crime
drug misuse/ underage pregnancy/ deviance
High
Life expectancy
Government performance
Funding of social safety net
Educational achievement

24. De Silva et al J Epi Comm Health 2005 Systematic review
No. of estimates
inverse
none
positive
Cognitive CMD 11 7
(18140) 4
(2608)
Structural
CMD 3
(56971)
(23832) 1
(222)
Combined 2
(5952)
Cognitive
Child
(1008) 5
(3429)

25. Specific impacts on mental health from literature
Social capital’s relation to mental health is complex
Social capital associated with CMD, risky behaviour and psychosis
Different types of social capital impact on health in different ways
Bridging social capital is particularly important
Cognitive social capital particularly important

26. Rapid urbanisation and social capital
Rapid urbanization impacts structural social capital
High migration leads to fewer relationships, networks, associations and institutions that link people and groups together.
Governments in low income countries are struggling to develop social safety nets and infrastructures in the face of rapid changes in need.

27. Rapid urbanization and social capital
Cognitive social capital also undermined
Values, norms of reciprocity, altruism and civic responsibility all need to be re-evaluated and renegotiated.
In the meantime, trust is the victim.
Retreat into highly bonded sub-communities or families is a common response

28. Rapid urbanization and social capital
Decreases social networks and bridging social capital and increases the level of responsibility of the immediate family.
The strain that this puts on families is significant.
Increased domestic violence, family break up and abandonment.
Social isolation is not an infrequent result.
This leads to further fractured networks and undermines the development of local social capital

29. Building social capital?
Civic identity is difficult to build and takes time.
Also takes a belief that your community is efficacious.
Lack of material social infrastructure undermines the development of civic identity.
But the development of cognitive social capital is necessary in order to build community spirit and to help organize people to advocate for better facilities

30. International research has stressed the importance of vertical social capital and access to power
Urbanization is characterized by movements of people who do not have access to power and whose access has been lost in the transfer from better networked rural or semirural communities to much more anonymous urban conurbations.
The lack of power, social efficacy and bridging makes these communities very vulnerable

31. Urbanization, social capital and mental illness

32. Social capital urbanization and mental health
Social capital linked to social determinants of mental health in the urban environment.
Higher levels of social capital linked to fewer risks
Bridging social capital may produce social supports and safety nets which buffer the effects of life events on mental health
High levels of collective efficacy are better able to acquire and hold on to educational, health, and housing resources

33. Social capital is easy to breakdown but slow to generate.
It takes time to develop trust and build structures that enable cooperative working and social efficacy.

34. Rapid unplanned urbanization undermines the development of social capital.
Breaks existing cognitive and structural horizontal bonds that existed in pre-migration settings.

35. Urbanization may occur without regard for the development of the vertical integrative structures required to develop a sense of community efficacy and participation.
Low levels of these sorts of social capital predictably produce an environment with more in the way of social risk factors for mental illness but less in the way of
supports and buffers that decrease the impacts of these risk factors.

36. Action on promotion of mental health
Enhanced by effective public health interventions
Collective action depends on shared values
Promoted by a climate that respects civil rights and freedoms
Needs inter-sectoral linkages
Social environment that promote economy depends on mental health

37. Rapid urbanization is with us
Conclusion
Rapid urbanization is with us
The urban environment may not be good for mental health
Using the lens of social capital may help planners to develop urban environments that promote mental health
Economic development linked to mental health
There is no wealth without mental health