Health Sciences 4091A/B Chapter 6: Chapter 6
11 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Chapter 6: fear and anxiety in the community. The distinction between worries and anxiety disorders is especially important when studying untreated people in the community (who don"t typically associate their anxiety as a disorder and do not seek attention) The translation of dsm criteria into diagnostic algorithms allowed computers to assess massive studies of more people which cost less, not having the need for psychiatrists to interview all the participants. Community studies today show how prevalent anxiety disorders are in the general population (30-40%), much higher than 2-4% reported in the 80s. Perhaps these enormous prevalence rates result from faulty translation of the dsm criteria used in epidemiological studies. Before the 1950s, studies of rates of mental illness usually focused on institutionalized populations and sometimes surveys from physicians. The absence of context in the community studies that predated dsm-iii provided a template for studies that would use the new diagnostic criteria after 1980.
