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Jun. 2nd, 2004 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsyche90-minute interviews assessed a wide range of ills, including agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive and panic disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, bipolar disorders, bulimia, major depression, and alcohol and drug abuse.
The study did not try to diagnose schizophrenia, because that requires a psychiatrist, said one of its authors, Dr. Bedirhan Ustun of the Global Program on Evidence for Health Policy at the World Health Organization. "If an interviewer knocks on your door and asks if you are hearing voices," Dr. Ustun explained, "you are likely to answer no."
Dr. Kessler acknowledged that his methodology needed refinement. Although some general trends were clear, there were wide unexplained disparities.
For example, about 26 percent of Americans were judged to have mental illness, compared with only 4 percent of the residents of Shanghai and 5 percent of Nigerians.
The differences were even more extreme in smaller categories. The Dutch were found to have 30 times the drinking problems that Italians had, and 4 times the problem of the French.
About 18 percent of Americans had anxiety disorders, versus 12 percent of the French, 11 percent of Lebanese and 10 percent of Colombians. Europeans other than the French were in the 7 percent range, while Nigerians and Chinese were the calmest, at about 3 percent.
"I'm sorry it's so fuzzy, but that's the way it is," Dr. Kessler said. "It sounds like Nigeria is a paradise, but I know there are camps there where lots of people have P.T.S.D.," a reference to refugee camps where people fleeing ethnic violence have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Large Study on Mental Illness Finds Global Prevalence
The study did not try to diagnose schizophrenia, because that requires a psychiatrist, said one of its authors, Dr. Bedirhan Ustun of the Global Program on Evidence for Health Policy at the World Health Organization. "If an interviewer knocks on your door and asks if you are hearing voices," Dr. Ustun explained, "you are likely to answer no."
Dr. Kessler acknowledged that his methodology needed refinement. Although some general trends were clear, there were wide unexplained disparities.
For example, about 26 percent of Americans were judged to have mental illness, compared with only 4 percent of the residents of Shanghai and 5 percent of Nigerians.
The differences were even more extreme in smaller categories. The Dutch were found to have 30 times the drinking problems that Italians had, and 4 times the problem of the French.
About 18 percent of Americans had anxiety disorders, versus 12 percent of the French, 11 percent of Lebanese and 10 percent of Colombians. Europeans other than the French were in the 7 percent range, while Nigerians and Chinese were the calmest, at about 3 percent.
"I'm sorry it's so fuzzy, but that's the way it is," Dr. Kessler said. "It sounds like Nigeria is a paradise, but I know there are camps there where lots of people have P.T.S.D.," a reference to refugee camps where people fleeing ethnic violence have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Large Study on Mental Illness Finds Global Prevalence