Citation

Pai N, Vella SLC. J. Psychiatry Spectr. 2023; 2(2): 102-104.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Psychiatric Society Karnataka Chapter and the author(s), Publisher Wolters Kluwer)

DOI

10.4103/jopsys.jopsys_6_23

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Mental illness can have a pervasive and detrimental effect on individuals, their families, and communities. Over recent years, rates of mental illness have been increasing worldwide, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that mental and substance use disorders increased by 13% in 2017 and have increased further since the start of the current pandemic.[1,2] Mental illness and mental disorders are related to 1 in 5 years being lost to disability worldwide.[1,2] In India, recently, Sagar et al. (2020) ascertained that one in seven people have a mental disorder.[1,3] The purpose of this commentary is to provide a general overview of psychiatric epidemiology including challenges as well as a discussion of two recent articles detailing the findings of the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) in India; one of the articles provides a comparison with Australian data.

The primary focus of psychiatric epidemiology is the distribution of mental disorders in a population.[4] Historically, psychiatric epidemiology was focused on the contribution of social environments to the development of mental illness, shifting in the 1980s to the early identification and prevention of mental illness.[5] The value of psychiatric epidemiology to clinical psychiatry chiefly derives from the information provided pertaining to the distribution and frequency of mental disorders that facilitate research on the course, prognosis, clinical manifestation and outcomes of different mental disorders.[6] Further psychiatric epidemiology is necessary for the development of public mental health policy and the provision of mental health services.[7] Thus, the current psychiatric epidemiological data are required to address the population needs and risk factors as well as to facilitate effective treatments, services, and to assess outcomes of the policy developed and the services provided...

Language: en