Social Isolation and Schizophrenia

O F the several hypotheses relating the frequency of mental disorders to social conditions, none has been more persistently enunciated than that which proposes that schizophrenia is the outgrowth of social isolation. First stated by Faris in 1934,1 this hypothesis subsequently seemed consistent with, and indeed explanatory of, the findings of Faris and Dunham's classic ecological study of mental Faris and Dunham ascertained that high rates of first hospital admissions for schizophrenia are found in areas of the city characterized by high residential mobility and low socioeconomic status, among ethnic group persons living in non-ethnic areas, and among the foreign-born populations of the slums.2 All of these indices were regarded as reflecting tendencies toward the social isolation of certain segments of the population. In earlier statements of the hypothesis, Faris suggested that any form of isolation that cuts the person off from intimate social relations for an extended period of time may possibly lead to this form of mental disorder. 3 More recent statements have suggested that isolation is a result of incon-