Mental disorders have a huge cost, both to individuals and to society. The direct costs of providing appropriate mental healthcare must be considered along with the societal costs of not doing so. This volume uses the findings of the WHO Mental Health surveys, a long-term study with more than 120,000 people from 24 countries, to present a comprehensive portrait of the burden of mental disorders. The most up-to-date measures, field procedures and analysis methodology were used and the results have been rigorously peer-reviewed and assessed for accuracy. Topics covered include the effects of mental disorders on educational attainment, marital stability, violence, absenteeism, earnings, and the disability they cause. The book also discusses the implications for policy and practice. This information will be valuable for anyone involved in establishing policy for mental health, including epidemiologists, clinicians, administrators, service managers and health economists.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Part I. Introduction:
1. Burdens of mental disorders: the approach of the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys
2. Methods of the World Mental Health surveys
Part II. Mental Disorders and Personal Disadvantages:
3. Parent psychopathology and offspring mental disorders
4. Associations between mental disorders and early termination of education
5. Mental disorders, marriage and divorce
6. Premarital mental disorders and risk for marital violence
7. Early-onset mental disorders and their links to chronic physical conditions in adulthood
Part III. Mental Disorders and Productivity Losses:
8. Association between serious mental illness and personal earnings
9. Early-onset mental disorders and adult household income
10. Family burden associated with mental and physical disorders
Part IV. Disability and Perceived Health Associated With Common Mental and Physical Disorders:
11. Days totally out of role associated with common mental and physical disorders
12. Partial disability associated with common mental and physical disorders
13. Disorder-specific disability and treatment of common mental and physical disorders
14. Disability associated with common mental and physical disorders
15. Perceived health associated with common mental and physical disorders
16. Decomposing the total associations of common mental and physical disorders with perceived health
Part V. Implications and Future Directions:
17. The burden of mental disorders in the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study and the World Mental Health surveys: similarities, differences and implications for mental health research
18. The burdens of mental disorders: implications for policy
19. Conclusions and future directions
Appendices
Index.