Psychiatric disorders in a U.S. community. The application of research diagnostic criteria to a resurveyed community sample.

Point prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders, risk factors, and treatment sought for the disorders are presented, based on a 1975--1976 follow-up of a community probability sample originally surveyed in 1967. These data, while preliminary because of the limitations of a follow-up study, demonstrate the first application to a community sample of new psychiatric diagnostic techniques (SADS-RDC), which are being used with increasing frequency in the United States. The forthcoming DSM-III will be based on these diagnostic techniques. These results, consistent with other reports, show that depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the community; that schizophrenia and bipolar disorders both have low frequency; and that psychiatric disorders are heterogeneous by age, sex, race, social class, marital status. While persons with a psychiatric disorder tend to use the health care system in the United States, they do not specifically seek help for emotional problems. Since the majority of psychiatric disorders are untreated in the mental health system, prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders based on cases receiving treatment in psychiatric facilities are a gross underestimate.