“This place is getting to me”: geographical understandings of mental health

This chapter outlines the ways in which medical and health geographers have contributed to our understanding of mental illness. There are two main parts. The first outlines the largely quantitative social epidemiological modelling of mental health outcomes, which details how individual, household and local neighbourhood socio-economic context influence the risk of both ‘low level’ mental illness as well as more serious conditions. The second focuses on qualitative work examining the care and experiences of people with mental health problems. The chapter finishes with a brief outline of challenges for future work surrounding mental health and place.