Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T02:55:48.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatric Illness and Living in Flats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

N. C. Moore
N. C. Moore*
Affiliation:
R.A.F. Squadron Leader, Specialist in Neuropsychiatry and Medical Officer in Charge of the Child Guidance Centre
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

All the papers about flat dwelling (Central Housing Advisory Committee, 1952; Hopper, 1962; Hird, 1966; Fanning, 1967; Gunn, 1968; Gilloran, 1968 and Stewart, 1970) except one (Sheerboom, 1962) state that it has an adverse effect on mental health. They are almost unanimous in naming the care of children as a cause. The best study from a scientific point of view (Fanning, 1967) showed a significantly higher rate of psychiatric consultations among those living in the same flats as in the present study. This was thought to be due to social isolation caused by the nature of the flats and being confined in them by children. A widely held belief that bad housing can cause or aggravate mental illness is not justified by the evidence. Three investigations (Martin, Brotherston and Chave, 1957; Wilner, Walkley, Schram, Pinkerton and Tayback, 1960 and Hare and Shaw, 1965) failed to show any benefit to mental health from new housing. The only one (Taylor and Chave, 1964) to find an improvement studied new housing which was socially planned. All four studies failed to allow for two other variables. One was the adverse effect of the move itself (Maule and Martin, 1956; Hall, 1964 and Shepherd, Cooper, Brown and Kalton, 1966) on those in new housing. The other was moving to better old housing among controls (Wilner et al., 1960).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 125 , Issue 588 , November 1974 , pp. 500 - 507
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

British Medical Journal (1967) Living in flats. British Medical Journal, iv, 376.Google Scholar
Brodman, K., Erdmann, A. J. & Wolff, H. G. (1956) Manual of the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire. New York.Google Scholar
Brown, A. C. & Fry, J. (1962) The Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire in the identification of neurotic patients in general practice. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 6, 185–190.Google Scholar
Caldbeck-Meenan, J. (1966) Screening university students with the Cornell Medical Index. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 9, 331–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Central Housing Advisory Committee (1952) Living in Flats. Flats Sub-Committee Report. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Cochlin, Marion (1969) An isolated community. Paper presented to the Council for Training in Social Work.Google Scholar
College of General Practitioners (1958) Psychological medicine in general practice. British Medical Journal, ii, 585–90.Google Scholar
Culpan, R. H., Davies, B. M. & Oppenheim, A. N. (1960) Incidence of psychiatric illness among hospital outpatients: an application of the Cornell Medical Index. British Medical Journal, i, 855–7.Google Scholar
Densham-Booth, D. F. (1968) Social Planning in the 1970's–80's, Army Housing in the United Kingdom. A Defence Fellowship Study. London: Ministry of Defence.Google Scholar
Fanning, D. M. (1967) Families in flats. British Medical Journal, iv, 382–6.Google Scholar
Gilloran, J. L. (1968) Social health problems associated with ‘high living’. The Medical Officer, 120, 117–8.Google Scholar
Goldzieher, J. W., Moses, L. E., Averkin, E., Scheel, Cora & Taber, B. Z. (1971) A placebo-controlled double-blind crossover investigation of the side effects attributed to oral contraceptives. Fertility and Sterility, 22, 609–23.Google Scholar
Gunn, A. D. G. (1968) ‘High life’ in the sky. Nursing Times, 64, 468–70.Google ScholarPubMed
Hall, P. (1964) Moving house in the aetiology of psychiatric symptoms. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 57, 83–6.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. & Shaw, G. K. (1965) Mental Health on a New Housing Estate. A Comparative Study of Health in Two Districts of Croydon. Maudsley Monographs No. 12. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, A. B. (1966) Principles of Medical Statistics. London: The Lancet Limited.Google Scholar
Hird, J. F. B. (1966) Planning for a new community. Journal of the College of General Practitioners, 12, 33–41.Google ScholarPubMed
Hopper, J. M. H. (1962) Disease, health and housing. The Medical Officer, 107, 97–104, 117–22.Google Scholar
Kessel, W. I. N. (1960) Psychiatric morbidity in a London general practice. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 14, 16–22.Google Scholar
Kessel, W. I. N. & Shepherd, M. (1962) Neurosis in hospital and general practice. Journal of Mental Science, 108, 159–66.Google Scholar
Leigh, D. & Marley, E. (1956) A psychiatric assessment of adult asthmatics: a statistical study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1, 128–36.Google Scholar
Martin, F. M., Brotherston, J. H. F. & Chave, S. P. W. (1957) Incidence of neurosis in a new housing estate. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 11, 196–202.Google Scholar
Maule, H. G. & Martin, F. M. (1956) Social and psychological aspects of rehousing. Advance Science, 12, 443–53.Google Scholar
Moser, C. A. (1958) Survey Methods in Social Investigations. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, A. N. (1966) Questionnaire Design and Attitude Measurement. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Registrar General (1954) Medical and Population Subjects Study No. 8. Measurement of morbidity. Report of the Statistics Sub-Committee of the Registrar General's Advisory Committee on Medical Nomenclature and Statistics. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Registrar General (1966) Classification of Occupations. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Sheerboom, D. J. (1962) Rehousing on medical grounds. The Medical Officer, 107, 381–4.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966) Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, W. F. R. (1970) Children in Flats—A Family Study. London: National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.Google Scholar
Taylor, Lord & Chave, S. (1964) Mental Health and Environment. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Wilner, D. M., Walkley, Rosabelle, Schram, J. M., Pinkerton, T. C. & Tayback, M. (1960) Housing as an environmental factor in mental health; The Johns Hopkins longitudinal study. American Journal of Public Health, 50, 55–63.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.