[Affective disorders in a district of Budapest]

After thorough preparatory work, the authors examined the incidence of affective disorders in a representative sample amounting to 1.2% of the population (750 inhabitants) of the XXI. district of Budapest. The presents study is the second one in Hungary to apply the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), a popular method frequently used in the international literature, supplementing this with socio-demographic data and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Their survey showed a low level of religiosity in the sample and a high level of drinking even by self-admission. Patients with major depression (MD) and dysthymia proved to be at almost exactly the same risk of suicide. A high percentage of those suffering MD and bipolar disorder sought medical help. The point and lifetime prevalence were the following: MD 3.7% and 10.9%, dysthymia 2.9% and 5.3, bipolar disorders zero and 1.07%. Their data closely match the values found in the literature. The values measured by the DIS are very close to those of full version of BDI, a finding which confirms that the full version of BDI is very reliable indicator of major depressive states.