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Article

Epidemiology and social psychiatry: a personal view(1)

  • Paul Bebbington (a1)
Summary

Objective - To set out the author's views of the role of epidemiology in social psychiatry and to illustrate this role with reference to affective disorders. Method - Review of work carried out in two areas; the bearing of gender and of age on rates of affective disorder. Results - The use of sociodemographic categories to define high risk groups suggests that affective disorder may be related strongly to role satisfaction and that age may have a pathoplastic effect on the form of disorder that overrides all but the strongest social influences. Conclusions - Epidemiology is an essential tool of the social psychiatrist, but its main strength is in clarifying the nature of the questions to be asked and suggesting new lines of investigation.

Obiettivo - Esporre le considerazioni dell'autore sul ruolo dell'epidemiologia e illustrare tale ruolo in riferimento ai disturbi affettivi. Metodo - Rassegna di una ricerca condotta in due aree; influenza del sesso e dell'età sul tasso dei disturbi affettivi. Risultati - L'utilizzo di categorie sociodemografiche per definire i gruppi ad alto rischio suggerisce che i disturbi affettivi possono essere strettamente correlati alia soddisfazione di ruolo e che l'età può avere un effetto patoplastico sulla forma del disturbo che sovrasta tutti gli altri aspetti, ad eccezione delle influenze sociali piu forti. Conclusioni. - L'epidemiologia è uno strumento essenziale per lo psichiatra sociale, ma il suo aspetto più incisivo è quello di chiarire la natura delle domande da fare e di suggerire nuove linee di ricerca.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 1994
Corresponding author
Indirizzo per la corrispondenza: Dr. P. Bebbington, MRC Social and Community Psychiatric Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8QU (England). Fax (+44) 71-703.0458
Footnotes
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1

Testo della lettura magistrale tenuta al Primo Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Epidemiologia Psichiatrica (Genova 7-9 ottobre 1993).

Footnotes
References
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Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
  • ISSN: 2045-7960
  • EISSN: 2045-7979
  • URL: /core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences
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