The WHO World Mental Health Surveys: Global Perspectives on the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders
The effect of mental illness on a global level is profound, with an impact on communities worldwide from a social, cultural, and economic perspective. Althoughmost psychiatry and psychology texts provide some statistical analyses of mental health disorders and their treatment, the epidemiology of mental illness is still poorly understood. This book reports results from theWorld Health Organization (WHO)World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative, the largest coordinated series of cross-national psychiatric epidemiological surveys ever undertaken. Results from discrete surveys of seventeen different countries on four continents are reported here for comparison and cross-referencing. Many of the countries included in the WMH surveys had never before collected data on the prevalence or correlates of mental disorders in their country, and others had information on mental disorders only from small regional studies prior to the WMH survey. These surveys provide valuable information for physicians and health policy planners and provide greater clarity on the global impact of mental illness and its undertreatment.