My Stance
Rural areas have a higher prevalence of mental health issues such as inadequate mental
healthcare facilities, treatment, and stigma among others, as compared to urban areas.
Opposing Point from the Article
I found an opposing perspective from the article Cities and Mental Health written by Gruebner et
al (2017). According to Gruebner et al (2017), the urban environment in comparison with rural
setting have higher prevalence of mental issues, with triggers such as noise pollution, various
urban designs characterized by tall buildings, increased physical threats such as violence, all
which contribute to high stress levels and aggression, causing negative mental health outcomes.
Gruebner et al (2017) further add that the concentration of low Socioeconomic Status (SES)
attributes in urban areas for instance low education and income levels, lack of social support, and
social segregation highly contribute to a higher prevalence of mental health issues in urban
settings more than in rural areas.
Concession
The point has some merits, and I acknowledge the impact of the hustle and bustle in most urban
areas on mental health. There are numerous cases of accidents and violence related activities
reported in urban areas, which cause high levels of stress, mood disorder, and anxiety among
other mental health conditions. The social segregation is also common in urban areas especially
among the immigrants and minority groups. Lack of social support encountered in urban
dwellings have played a major role in increasing the cases of mental illnesses, such as
depression. Among my audience, the healthcare professionals might agree with this article, as
they might have handled several cases of mentally illnesses brought about by the triggers
mentioned above.
Refutation
In as much as I find merits to the point from the article, I intend to convince those who might
agree with the opposing perspective. I’ll start by making it clear that this is just one study and
hence the findings cannot be generalized. There is need to consider other sources that discuss in
detail the disparities between the prevalence of mental health issues in rural areas and urban
settings. I will also use my thesis to prove that in as much as there are relatively high levels of
mental health issues in urban areas, the situation is more critical in rural areas.
References
Byrne, L., Happell, B., & Reid-Searl, K. (2017). Acknowledging Rural Disadvantage in Mental
Health: Views of Peer Workers. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 53(4), 259–265.
https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12171
Newman, M. W., Hawrilenko, M., Jakupcak, M., Chen, S., & Fortney, J. C. (2021). Access and
attitudinal barriers to engagement in integrated primary care mental health treatment for rural
populations. The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health
Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 10.1111/jrh.12616. Advance online
publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12616
Gruebner, O., Rapp, M. A., Adli, M., Kluge, U., Galea, S., & Heinz, A. (2017). Cities and mental
health. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 114(8), 121. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2017.0121.