City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans

Florian Lederbogen, Peter Kirsch, Leila Haddad, Fabian Streit, Heike Tost, Philipp Schuch, Stefan Wüst, Jens C. Pruessner, Marcella Rietschel, Michael Deuschle and Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg ()
Additional contact information
Florian Lederbogen: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Peter Kirsch: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Leila Haddad: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Fabian Streit: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Heike Tost: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Philipp Schuch: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Stefan Wüst: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Jens C. Pruessner: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H4H 1R3, Canada
Marcella Rietschel: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Michael Deuschle: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg: Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg/Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany

Nature, 2011, vol. 474, issue 7352, 498-501

Abstract: Mental stress caused by city life By 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities. Although city living has many advantages, rapidly increasing urbanization has major health implications — schizophrenia is more common in people born in cities than in those from less heavily populated districts, and living in cities increases the rates of depression and anxiety disorders. It has been suggested that social stress plays a part in these effects, but the mechanisms involved are unknown. Now, in a study of healthy German volunteers using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a key brain structure for negative emotion (the amygdala) was found to be more active during stress in city dwellers, and a regulatory brain area (the cingulate cortex) more active in people born in cities. These results identify potential mechanisms linking social environment and mental illness, and might contribute to planning healthier urban surroundings.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10190

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