Treatment prevalence in a community mental health service with special regard to depressive disorders

In the community psychiatric service in Samsø, 1.24% of the male population and 3.1% of the female population were in treatment on April 1. 1976. Approximately two-thirds of the patients had 1 or 2 referrals, the rest had 3 or more. Of the 1222 consultations, 74% were home visits. Thirty-one percent had a treatment period of less than 1 year. Only 35% of the patients in treatment had previously been hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals and 21% were in a psychiatric hospital on prevalence day.Patients with manic-depressive psychoses comprised 38% of those in treatment, giving a treatment prevalence for manic-depressive disorders of 7.7 per 1000 population.A number of the patients with manic-depressive disorders had previously been treated under the diagnoses of depressive or anxiety neuroses. It is our experience that many patients with signs of depressive neuroses are, in fact, manic-depressive and respond very well to tricyclic antidepressive drugs.When comparing the incidence for manic-depressive disorders in the Samsø clinic, the Århus county register, and Danish psychiatric hospitals we found a significantly higher incidence in Samsø with 2.38 per 1000 compared with 0.62 per 1000 for the Århus county register and 0.28 for Danish psychiatric hospitals.The purpose of the present study has been to analyze a number of conditions concerning the patients in treatment on April 1. 1976, in a community psychiatric service in a Danish geographically delimited rural population. In Denmark such one-day prevalence studies have previously been made for psychiatric hospitals.^1–4 but not in a community psychiatric service.