Volume 13, Issue 51 (10-2004)                   JGUMS 2004, 13(51): 55-66 | Back to browse issues page

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Abstract Introduction: The burden of psychiatric disorders in the developed countries has been identified by the screening questionnaires and standard clinical interviews at a high level, but the epidemiological studies on psychiatric disorders in our country are limited and their numbers are few. Planning for providing essential mental health services for people requires us to be knowledgeable about the present status of psychiatric disorders in the society. Objective: The objective of this research was to carry out the epidemiological study of the psychiatric disorders in the individuals 18 years and above in urban and rural areas of Guilan province. Materials and Methods: 925 individuals were selected through randomized cluster and systematic sampling methods from the existing families of Guilan province and questionnaires of Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) were completed by the clinical psychologists. The diagnosis of the disorders was based on DSM-IV classification criteria. Results: The results of the study showed that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the province is 15.78 percent which was 22.77 percent in the women and 8.57 percent in the men. The anxiety and mood disorders respectively with 8.32 and 4.12 percent had the higher prevalence in the province. The prevalence of psychotic disorders in this study was 0.32 percent, neuro-cognitive disorders 2.59 percent and dissociative disorders 0.43 percent. In the group of mood disorders, major depression with 3.03 percent and in the group of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder with 2.81 percent had the higher prevalence. The prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in the province among the individuals in the age group of 41-55 years with 12.50 percent, divorced or separated individuals 25 percent, residents of province 13.39 percent, individuals with primary school education 16.23 percent and housewives 16.40 percent were more than other individuals in the sample. Conclusion: This study showed that at least 10 percent of individuals older than 18 years that were studied suffered from minimum one of the psychiatric disorders. Being aware of this matter reveals the responsibility of the health policy makers and programmers for prevention, treatment and medical education more than before in relation to preparing applied and executive plans in Guilan province for mental health. Although the validity and reliability of SADS for screening and diagnosis were shown in the pilot study, we suggest that another study should be conducted with a greater sample size for the assessment of validity and reliability of SADS for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.
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Review Paper: Research | Subject: General
Received: 2014/07/8 | Accepted: 2014/07/8 | Published: 2014/07/8

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