Urbanization and mental health in Brazil: social and economic dimensions.

While there have been attempts to examine urbanization and the quality of urban life as special risk factors in the generation of mental illness, the issue is controversial and remains largely unresolved. In this article particular consideration is given to the process of contemporary structural transformation in the Brazilian society leading to urbanization. Selected Brazilian studies of mental illness in urban areas are described. Economic displacement, or unemployment, emerges as the most significant risk factor for mental ill-health and is more important than, for example, rural to urban migration. Current studies are then criticized for focusing too much on the search for single risk factors instead of taking the social, structural context into account.