Contributed by Tom Harrison| 06 June, 2005 21:01 GMT
One-fourth of US adult survey participants reported having symptoms that would qualify them for a diagnosis of a mental disorder -- and most of those disorders could be classified as serious or moderate, according to a report in the June issue of
Archives of General Psychiatry.
Although earlier epidemiological surveys estimated prevalence of mental disorders in the United States as high as 30 percent, information on severity and comorbidity -- having two or more mental disorders at the same time -- previously was not available, according to background information in the article.
Prevalence, Severity, Comorbidity
Ronald C. Kessler, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School and colleagues analyzed information on mental disorders in the United States collected from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative face-to-face household survey conducted between February 2001 and April 2003.
The surveyers used the
World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
The researchers determined the 12-month prevalence of different types of mental disorders -- that is, the percentage of individuals who reported having symptoms that would represent a particular mental disorder in the course of the previous 12 months.
They also gauged the level of severity of each disorder reported in that 12-month period, as well as the likelihood that an individual qualifying for a diagnosis for one mental disorder during that time also would meet the criteria for at least one other (comorbidity).
Four Classes, Three Levels
The disorders were divided into four classes:
anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder;
mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder;
impulse control disorder, including oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and intermittent explosive disorder; and
substance abuse disorder, defined as alcohol and drug abuse and dependence.
Severity was divided into three levels: serious, which might be defined by criteria including a serious suicide attempt or substantial work limitations as result of the disorder; moderate, which might defined by criteria including suicide ideation or substance abuse without serious impairment of functioning; and mild.
Anxiety Disorders Top List
Based on data obtained from 9,282 adult respondents to the survey, the researchers determined that the 12-month prevalence for any disorder was 26.2 percent, with a 12-month prevalence of anxiety disorders of 18.1 percent; mood disorders, 9.5 percent; impulse control disorders, 8.9 percent and substance abuse disorders, 3.8 percent.
Of the cases, 22.3 percent were classified as serious; 37.3 percent as moderate and 40.4 percent as mild.
Fifty-five percent of individuals with a disorder met the criteria for only one disorder, 22 percent for two diagnoses and 23 percent for three or more diagnoses.
"Although mental disorders are widespread, serious cases are concentrated among a relatively small proportion of cases with high comorbidity," the authors conclude. |
Home 
*Mental Illness 
