The Diagnostic Distribution of Treated Psychiatric Illness in Lebanon

¹ Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, California 94305
² Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, New York 14620

Information on all Lebanese patients admitted to psychiatric care during a six-month period in 1964 was obtained with the co-operation of all three hospitals and twenty out of twenty-one psychiatrists rendering service to the community. The methodology and general results have been discussed in an earlier communication (4). In this and a companion paper, emphasis is placed on the diagnostic distribution of the treated population (4,636 Lebanese citizens). In Part I we deal with 1,961: individuals under care on the first day of the study, 15 February 1964, the point prevalence group. The rate is 100.5 per 100,000 or one out of a thousand citizens.

The major characteristics of this group are that it consists predominantly of in-patients (74 per cent), has a somewhat higher ratio of males, and includes a large number of chronic patients. The largest diagnostic category is that of psychotic disorders (47 per cent of total), in which the majority of patients are schizophrenic. The predominance of males over females among schizophrenics is discussed, particularly in view of the greater ratio for females in the affective disorders and neuroses.

The information on patients admitted for care during the study period is considered in Part II, which also includes further discussion of certain diagnostic entities.

The diagnostic profile of new patients admitted to care during a six-month period is described under two headings: incidence (99.4 per 100,000 population) included all new cases, and readmissions (37.7 per 100,000 population) included all new cases who had had at least one psychiatric contact prior to the study period.

The diagnostic and service distributions of the three groups (point prevalence, incidence, and readmissions) are compared. In contrast to the point prevalence group, the incidence group consists mostly of out-patients (77 per cent) and includes a larger number of neurotics than psychotics (44 to 23 per cent respectively). Males outnumber females in both groups.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Katchadourian A Comparative Study of Mental Illness Among the Christians and Moslems of Lebanon International Journal of Social Psychiatry, April 1, 1974; 20(1-2): 56 - 67. [PDF]