PREVALENCE OF MENTAL-DISORDERS, PERSONALITY-TRAITS AND MENTAL COMPLAINTS IN THE LUNDBY STUDY - A POINT PREVALENCE STUDY OF THE 1957 LUNDBY COHORT OF 2612 INHABITANTS OF A GEOGRAPHICALLY DEFINED AREA WHO WERE REEXAMINED IN 1972 REGARDLESS OF DOMICILE

The Lundby Study is a prospective, psychiatric-epidemiological study o f a normal population that has been repeatedly examined over a period of 25 years. Experienced psychiatrists made home visits and collected the basic information through personal examinations adding supplementa ry data from other relevant sources. The present book contains point p revalence data of mental disorders such as neuroses, psychoses, organi c brain syndromes, psychosomatic disorders, psychopathy, mental retard ation, alcoholism, mental complaints, and also of various personality traits in a normal population at two points of time, 15 years apart. T ogether with earlier published incidence studies the present monograph is intended to give as complete a picture as possible of the mental m orbidity in a total population. Our most conspicuous finding was the i ncrease over time of the prevalence of neurotic illnesses. Depressive illnesses represented the largest increase. In the male sex the rate o f Neurosis trebled from Time 1 to Time 2, although the female preponde rance still remained. Psychopathy and Alcoholism, on the other hand, w ere very markedly male disorders. A description of how the investigati ons were performed is included and also a list of publications origina ting from the Lundby Study. This book will be of interest to physician s and psychiatrists interested in epidemiology and also to governmenta l planners and social scientists.