Psychiatric morbidity among students.

Abstract

Information regarding the frequency and con comitants of mental ill-health among students is accumulating at every university, but there is a special need for a better understanding of the factors involved and the relative importance of each. Much of the difficulty in establishing the characteristics of students who have psychiatric disorders stems from two sources: by no means all students who have these conditions seek advice for them, and for those who do consult, there is a lack of uniformity in definition of criteria for illness. Morbidity rates based on numbers of patients who have clearly definable psychiatric disorders generally give an index only of the extent of severe illness among students. These figures rarely include those who consult with minor psychological complaints, yet the important role played by minor emotional disturbances in deter mining the happiness, adjustment, and efficiency of students suggests that the numbers of those who have this cannot be ignored. Estimates of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among students vary from 1 to 20 per cent, of all at risk and in proportion to the stringency of the criteria used. Prevalence studies that have provided information relevant to the characteristics of students who have psychiatric disorders largely fall into four main categories: (1) Some have been concerned to obtain a pre valence figure for psychiatric disorders in relation to the number of students attending university health services during the academic year (Davy, 1960; Johnston, 1962; Juel Jensen, 1962; Malleson, 1954, 1959b, 1961; Still, 1961; Verney, 1961). (2) Some university health services have held questionnaire inquiries to assess the incidence of psychological complaints among students (Davy, 1957; Grant, 1954; Malleson, 1959a). (3) Some have provided details of psychiatric disorders presenting among students who attend voluntarily for health examinations (Malleson, 1958; Parnell, 1947; Pemberton, 1948).

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