Firming figures on mental illness.
Almost one-third of U.S. adults are likely to suffer from a mental illness or substance abuse or dependence sometime in their lives, according to what Lewis L. Judd, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), calls "the most extensive epidemiological survey of mental illness in the history of our civilization."
"What this indicates is that these disorders are not those that affect someone else, but will affect almost every family and certainly every friendship in the United States," Judd says.
Until this new study, mental health professionals had no solid data on the nationwide prevalence of mental illness. Leaders of NIMH's Epidemiologic Catchment Area survey, covering five U.S. communities, say it is the first such study to use modern diagnostic techniques, weight raw figures with national averages and replicate data in more than one site.
The new report substantiates the study's 1984 preliminary results, based on 10,000 adults at three sites (SN: 10/6/84, p.212). With an additional 8,571 interviews, the new results also include one-month rates, which indicate current prevalence, minimize recall problems, provide "base rates" for follow-up interviews and allow for international comparisons, the researchers note in the November ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY.
They found that 15.4 percent of people surveyed suffered symptoms of a mental or substance-use disorder in the month before their questioning. Phobia was the single most common disorder, reported by 6.2 percent. Another 3.3 percent reported dysthymia (a mild depression), 2.8 percent reported alcohol abuse/dependence and 2.2 percent reported an episode of major depression. All other disorders occurred in less than 2 percent of the population. Reserchers conducted the interviews between 1980 and 1984.
The study shows mental disorders are more common among people under age 45 and more common in women than in men. However, men were twice as likely as women to abuse drugs and five times as likely to abuse alcohol. In addition, antisocial personality disorder afflicted four times as many men as women, but more women had symptoms of depression, anxiety and somatization disorder, a form of hypochondria.
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|Date:||Nov 12, 1988|
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