Epidemiology and the Prevention of Mental Disorders

First published in 1989, Epidemiology and the Prevention of Mental Disorders examines the research undertaken into the methods for studying the occurrence of mental illness in populations during the twenty years prior to publication. The book explores the incidence and distribution of conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism, addiction, and dementia across populations, and the risk factors with which they are associated. Taking a public health approach to the prevention of mental illness, the book reports on epidemiological research in psychiatry, emphasising its use in preventative terms, and making connections between its use in psychiatry and its use in other fields of medicine. It also comments on the development of psychiatric epidemiology as a public health discipline and draws attention to the implications of contemporary changes to biological and social environments on mental health. Epidemiology and the Prevention of Mental Disorders will appeal to those with an interest in the history of psychiatric epidemiology and mental health.