If you live in a densely populated city, then this significantly increases the risk of hearing extraneous voices in your head. According to psychologists, this anomaly is associated with stress due to life in metropolitan areas.
A shocking 62% of 18-year-olds in criminal areas in densely populated metropolitan areas hear voices in their heads. Recently, young people from this kind of place are 40% more likely to seek the help of specialists in connection with episodes of psychosis. These episodes most often include voices in the head and paranoia. Researchers from King's College London are extremely alarmed by this statistic. They call for the creation of preventive measures to reduce the risk of psychosis among young people.
The study authors identified a variety of reasons why living in a city increases the risk of psychosis so much. First, this is due to the body's constant biological response to stress, which disrupts the activity of dopamine in the brain. Excess dopamine is the best biological explanation for psychosis-related disorders, including schizophrenia. Nearly half of the links between urban life and episodes of psychosis are attributed to factors such as a lack of trust and support between neighbors and a high level of threat.