Depression in three populations in the Basque country--a comparison with Britain.

A psychiatric survey in three regions of the Basque Autonomous Community aimed to replicate two British surveys, in London and a rural area of Scotland, investigating both prevalence of psychiatric disorder and its relationship with certain key psychosocial factors. The Spanish rural-urban differences in rates of depression and anxiety closely paralleled the earlier British results. As in Britain, Spanish rural rates of depression were lower among those most integrated into the traditional family ways of life, but in contrast to Britain the urban rates did not vary with social class or the presence of children at home. As in Britain, severe life event and major difficulties were associated with onset of depression, and varied in prevalence and type with degree of integration with the traditional lifestyle. The protective role of intimate confiding with a partner against depressive onset was confirmed among non-churchgoers in Bilbao, but not among churchgoers, while in the rural samples there was only a nonsignificant trend.