The Distribution of Schizophrenics in Nottingham

Abstract

The distributions of selected schizophrenic populations in Nottingham are analysed. The main hypotheses concerning the aetiology of schizophrenia are discussed. The possibility that several aspects of the social and urban environment explain the areal variations in the incidence of schizophrenia is investigated by means of oblique factor analysis. The results suggest that these 'ecological' factors may form an important link in the causal chain. IN both theoretical and practical terms it can be argued that the distribution of mentally disturbed persons in urban areas should rank as an important field of research in social geography. Investigators from other sciences have preempted the work of geographers with graphic analyses showing the marked concentration of disordered persons in the inner, decaying areas of large cities.1 In England and Wales, such studies are available for Liverpool, Bristol, London, Salford and Sheffield.2 The present author is aware of only three such investigations by geographers, relating to Derby, Luton and Southampton.3 The dearth of theoretical and empirical geographical research in this field can partly be ascribed to the fact that urban geographers have generally restricted their attention to