THE DUBAI-COMMUNITY-PSYCHIATRIC-SURVEY IV - LIFE EVENTS, CHRONIC DIFFICULTIES AND PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY

The relationship between life events, chronic social difficulties and psychiatric morbidity was investigated in 297 women selected at random as part of the Dubai Community Psychiatric Survey. The PSE-ID-CATEGO system was used to identify psychiatric cases, based on an Index of De finition level of 5 or more. Life events in the 6-month period prior t o illness or interview were elicited through the Life Events and Diffi culties Schedule. Chronic difficulties were explored through direct qu estioning based on a list of possible problems. The study demonstrates a significant excess of marked and moderately threatening life events in acute cases of psychiatric disorder (50%) compared to chronic case s (16.7%) and non-cases (27.9%). The association was particularly mark ed for events in the 3-month period before the onset. Around 33% of ps ychiatric morbidity may be attributed to marked and moderately threate ning life events. Rates for mild events were similar in the three grou ps of subjects. Subjects experiencing chronic social difficulties incl uded a significantly higher proportion of cases (33.3%) than those who did not experience such difficulties (9.1%). The effect of chronic so cial difficulties was more pronounced than, and independent of, the ef fects of life events. There were no interactions between life events a nd vulnerability factors in their effect on psychiatric morbidity, alt hough numbers were small. The results suggest that the overall influen ce of life events and chronic difficulties on psychiatric morbidity is commensurate with that in Western societies, despite the different co ping traditions of Islam.