Mental Health in the Inner City

Abstract

Salford, an urban industrial community that dates from the early nineteenth century, has been used as the population base for extensive epidemiological studies of psychiatric disorder. Population fall, differential migration, and massive redevelopment have had a measurable effect in recorded rates for schizophrenia, but the likely adverse consequences in terms of less severe disorders cannot yet be estimated. Psychiatry may contribute to social planning through an emphasis on the value of continuity and preservation of social networks.