Psychiatric disorder in Canberra. A standardised study of prevalence

A standardised survey of prevalence has been carried out in a general population. The epidemiological method employed is innovative in its use of two established instruments, the GHQ and the PSE, harnessed together in a two-phase design. 756 persons were interviewed, giving a response rate of 85% in phase 1. 157 were then interviewed with the PSE in phase 2 within a few days, giving a response rate of 92% in this weighted subsample. The point prevalence of non-psychotic morbidity, based on the distribution of GHQ scores, is higher than elsewhere in Australia, the excess being in Canberra males. The PSE data weighted back to represent the total population, show a distribution of morbidity in women which is remarkably similar to that in the very different population of Camberwell. The overall point prevalence of threshold and definite cases is 9.0% +/- 3.2. Case rates did not vary significantly with age or sex, but were higher in the separated, the single and the widowed. This study represents an advance in the reliable and economical detection of psychiatric morbidity at specified levels of severity in general populations.