Global Perspectives on Mental-Physical Comorbidity in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

The World Mental Health Surveys were established by the World Health Organization in 2000 to provide valuable information for physicians and health policy planners. These surveys have shed light on the prevalence, correlates, burden, and treatment of mental disorders in countries throughout the world. This volume focuses on the epidemiology of coexisting physical and mental illness around the world. This book includes surveys from 17 discrete countries on six continents, covering epidemiology, risk factors, consequences, and implications for research, clinical work, and policy. Many physical and mental illnesses share a relationship with one another and often occur simultaneously. Clinicians from the disciplines of both psychiatry and medicine are increasingly faced with both challenges on a daily basis, making this an ideal book for a wide range of health professionals. This is the first book devoted to this topic on such a wide-ranging scale.

1. Global perspectives on mental-physical comorbidity Michael R. Von Korff; Part I. An Epidemiological Map of Mental-Physical Comorbidity: 2. The global burden of chronic physical disease Michael R. Von Korff; 3. The global burden of chronic pain Adley Tsang and Sing Lee; 4. World Mental Health Survey methods for studying mental-physical comorbidity Gemma Vilagut, Kathleen Saunders, and Jordi Alonso; 5. The pattern and nature of mental-physical comorbidity: specific or general Oye Gureje; 6. Age patterns in the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders by physical comorbidity status Kate M. Scott; Part II. Risk Factors for Mental-Physical Comorbidity: 7. The development of mental-physical comorbidity Kate M. Scott; 8. Childhood adversity, early-onset mental disorders and adult-onset asthma Kate M. Scott; 9. Childhood adversities, mental disorders and heart disease Huibert Burger; 10. Early childhood adversities and later hypertension Dan Stein, Kate M. Scott, and Michael R. Von Korff; 11. Early life psychosocial factors and adult-onset diabetes Carmen Lara; 12. Psychosocial stressors in childhood and adult-onset arthritis Michael R. Von Korff; 13. The role of childhood adversities in adult-onset spinal pain Koen Demyttenaere and Ronny Bruffaerts; 14. Childhood adversities and adult obesity Ronny Bruffaerts and Koen Demyttenaere; 15. Linking depression-anxiety disorders and headache in a developmental perspective: the role of childhood family adversities Adley Tsang and Sing Lee; 16. Women, depression and mental-physical comorbidity: chronic pain as a mediating factor Oye Gureje; Part III. Consequences of Mental-Physical Comorbidity: 17. Understanding consequences of mental-physical comorbidity Michael R. Von Korff; 18. Disability and treatment of specific mental and physical disorders Johan Ormel, Maria Petukhova, Michael R. Von Korff, and Ronald C. Kessler; 19. Mental-physical comorbidity and its relationship with disability Kate M. Scott; 20. Disability in 'pure' vs. 'comorbid' mental and physical conditions Paul K. Crane; 21. Labor force participation, unemployment and mental-physical comorbidity Michael R. Von Korff; 22. Perceived stigma and mental-physical comorbidity Jordi Alonso, Andrea Buron, and Gemma Vilagut; 23. How physical comorbidity affects treatment of major depression in developing and developed countries Oye Gureje; 24. Mental-physical comorbidity and predicted mortality Huibert Burger; Part IV. Implications: 25. Research implications Evelyn Bromet and Michael R. Von Korff; 26. Clinical implications Gregory E. Simon; 27. Policy implications Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola; Appendices.

This volume on the World Mental Health Surveys focuses on the epidemiology of coexisting physical and mental illness around the world. Many physical and mental illnesses share a close relationship with one another and often occur simultaneously. This is the first book devoted to this topic on such a wide-ranging scale.

Michael R. Von Korff, DSc, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, is a Senior Investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, Washington.
Kate M. Scott, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Oye Gureje, DSc, FRCPsych, is Head of the Department of Psychiatry at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.