Social factors
Poverty
Young men from poor areas are more likely to have upsetting psychosis. There are different ideas why this is. It might be that there is more stress in poor areas. Maybe there is more crime and danger. Maybe there are more drugs in poor areas (see drugs above). But people with psychosis can find it harder to keep jobs when they are upset. They might lose their job and have to move to a poor area after becoming psychotic. So being poor might add to the risk of being psychosis, or being psychosis might add to the risk of being poor. No-one really knows for sure. It seems both could be true.
Poverty on its own does not cause psychosis. Other things will matter just as much. Such as your biology, your psychology, or other social factors.
Family
Families do not cause psychosis. But living in a stressful family can make psychosis worse. Psychosis can put families under a lot of pressure. There can be a lot of strong feelings. This can be stressful to a person with psychosis. For example, families can be too protective. Or they can be too critical. But it is not easy to live with someone with psychosis. It is not easy to see your loved one in pain.
Discrimination
People who are from a minority race or culture are more likely to become psychotic. The important bit here is minority. It is this which matters. Not being a different race.
It is hard to know why. It could be the stress of living with racism. But it could be because people in the West don't know enough about other cultures. We might be too willing to label things we don't know as psychosis.
Being from a minority race or culture does not cause psychosis. Most of these people will not become psychotic. But it is important when combined with other things such as psychology, biology, or other stress.
Bullying
People who have psychosis are more likely than others to have been bullied when they were young. But this does not mean bullying causes psychosis. Most people who are bullied do not become psychosis. But if you are prone to psychosis for other reasons, being bullied might matter more. It may also be that proneness to psychosis causes some people to be bullied. If you are eccentric, some people might pick on you more. Both reasons are probably true.
Living in the city
Studies have shown that people who live in the city are at greater risk of psychosis than people who live in the country. There may be lots of reasons for this. Some other things we have discussed, like poverty and stress, are worse in the city. But the reason for this finding is still unclear.
Culture
People from places like Africa have a better chance of getting better from psychosis than people in the west. This is a very important finding. It suggests psychosis is not just a biological thing.
It seems the role of culture matters. Maybe people in the 3rd world are more accepting of strange experiences and unusual beliefs. This could reduce the stress of having them. Which can actually reduce the number of unusual experiences people have.
This is very different to our culture. In our culture, there is often a fear of people with psychosis. This can add to stress. Which increases the number of unusual experiences people have. Some experts argue that stigma is the main thing stopping many people from getting better.
People in countries like Africa still have psychosis though. Although culture matters a lot, it is certainly not the whole answer.
