Thread: One third of Belgians suffer mental illness

FREQUENCY OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN BELGIUM

Overall, almost a third of the Belgian population suffered from at least one of the studied mental disorders once in their lifetime.
The most common mental disorder in Belgium is major depression (14.1 % in the general population, lifetime), followed by alcohol abuse (7.8 %, lifetime) and specific phobia (6.8 %, lifetime). Far less frequent are agoraphobia without panic (0.9 %, lifetime), panic disorder (1.6 %, lifetime), alcohol dependence (1.7 %, lifetime) and generalized anxiety disorder (1.9 %). As a group, mood disorders are the most frequent group of mental disorders (14.1 %, lifetime).
Overall, about a tenth of the Belgian population suffered from at least one of the studied mental disorders in the 12 months previous to the interview. In this 12 months period, major depression is the more frequent disorder (5.0% in the general population, previous year), followed by specific phobia (4.4 %, previous year) and alcohol abuse (1.7 %, previous year). The less frequent mental disorders are adult separation anxiety (0.1 %, previous year), alcohol dependence (0.3 %, previous year), agoraphobia without panic (0.4 %, previous
year) and oppositional

Thread started at Forum 4 Politics on 04-05-2012 07:28 AM

Uncle Ferd says never hit yer mother-in-law over the head with a shovel - it'll leave a bad impression on her mind...

Study links physical punishment to later mental disorders
28 June`12 - Children who are spanked, hit, or pushed as a means of discipline may be at an increased risk of mental problems in adulthood — from mood and anxiety disorders to drug and alcohol abuse, new research suggests.

Although it is well established that physical and sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and other severe forms of maltreatment in childhood are associated with mental illness, this is one of the first studies to show a link between non-abusive physical punishment and several different types of mental disorders, says epidemiologist Tracie Afifi, lead author of the study in today's Pediatrics. "There is a significant link between the two," says Afifi, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Canada. "Individuals who are physically punished have an increased likelihood of having mental health disorders." Approximately 2% to 7% of mental disorders in the study were linked to physical punishment, she says.

The study's findings add evidence to the argument that "physical punishment should not be used on any child, at any age," she says. Parents' right to use physical punishment has been abolished in more than 30 nations, but not in the USA or Canada, says the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment, endorsed by the United Nations and others. For the study, Afifi and colleagues analyzed data from a government survey of 35,000 non-institutionalized adults in the USA, collected between 2004 and 2005. About 1,300 of the respondents, all over age 20, were considered to have experienced physical punishment as children. They reported that they had, sometimes or more often, been "pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by your parents or any adult living in your house."

But some family researchers argue that spanking, used properly, can be appropriate discipline. "Certainly, overly severe physical punishment is going to have adverse effects on children," says psychologist Robert Larzelere, of Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. "But for younger kids, if spanking is used in the most appropriate way and the child perceives it as being motivated by concern for their behavior and welfare, then I don't think it has a detrimental effect." A 2005 scientific review he co-authored, of studies comparing spanking with non-physical discipline methods, identified an "optimal type of physical discipline," referred to as conditional spanking, and said that when it was used as a backup to nonphysical discipline it was better at reducing noncompliance and antisocial behavior.

While the new study rules out the most severe cases of physically lashing out at children, , "it does nothing to move beyond correlations to figure out what is actually causing the mental health problems," says Larzelere. He criticized the study's reliance on memories of events from years earlier, and says it's not clear when punishment occurred. "The motivation that the child perceives and when and how and why the parent uses (spanking) makes a big difference. All of that is more important than whether it was used or not." Afifi acknowledges that it's difficult to change people's mind on this topic, but says "we're confident of the reliability of our data, and the data strongly indicate that physical punishment should not be used on children — at any age. And it's important for parents to be aware of that."

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Spanking children boosts their odds of mental illness
Tue, Jul 03, 2012 - People who were hit or spanked as children face higher odds of mental ailments as adults, including mood and anxiety disorders and problems with alcohol and drug abuse, researchers said yesterday.

The study, led by Canadian researchers, is the first to examine the link between psychological problems and spanking, while excluding more severe physical or sexual abuse to better gauge the effect of corporal punishment alone. Those who were spanked or hit as kids were between 2 and 7 percent more likely to encounter mental issues later, said the research in the US journal Pediatrics, based on a retrospective survey of more than 600 US adults. That figure may seem low, particularly since about half of the US population recalls being spanked in childhood, but nevertheless shows that physical punishment can raise the risk of problems later on, experts said. “The study is valuable because it opens the conversation about parenting,” said Victor Fornari, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York.

The rate “is not dramatically higher, but it is higher, just to suggest that physical punishment is a risk factor for developing more mental disturbances as an adult,” said Fornari, who was not involved in the study. Previous research has repeatedly shown that children who were physically abused as youngsters suffer from more mental disturbances as adults, and are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior than children who were not hit. However, these studies have typically included more serious abuse. The current study excludes both sexual abuse and physical abuse that left bruises, marks or caused injury. Instead, it focuses on “harsh physical punishment,” defined as pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping or hitting as a form of punishment from elders.

While 32 nations around the world have banned corporal punishment of children, the US and Canada are not among them. Using a nationally representative survey sample of 653 Americans, they found that those who recalled experiencing harsh punishment as children faced higher odds of a range of mental problems. Between 2 and 5 percent of disorders like depression, anxiety, bipolar, anorexia or bulimia were attributable to physical punishment as a child, the study said.

Between 4 and 7 percent of more serious problems including personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and intellectual disabilities were associated with such punishments in childhood. Researchers stressed that the study could not establish that spanking had actually caused these disorders in certain adults, only that there was a link between memories of such punishment and a higher incidence of mental problems. The survey data came from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions collected between 2004 and 2005, and included adults over the age of 20.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../03/2003536872

Originally Posted by Forum4PoliticsBot

FREQUENCY OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN BELGIUM

Overall, almost a third of the Belgian population suffered from at least one of the studied mental disorders once in their lifetime.
The most common mental disorder in Belgium is major depression (14.1 % in the general population, lifetime), followed by alcohol abuse (7.8 %, lifetime) and specific phobia (6.8 %, lifetime). Far less frequent are agoraphobia without panic (0.9 %, lifetime), panic disorder (1.6 %, lifetime), alcohol dependence (1.7 %, lifetime) and generalized anxiety disorder (1.9 %). As a group, mood disorders are the most frequent group of mental disorders (14.1 %, lifetime).
Overall, about a tenth of the Belgian population suffered from at least one of the studied mental disorders in the 12 months previous to the interview. In this 12 months period, major depression is the more frequent disorder (5.0% in the general population, previous year), followed by specific phobia (4.4 %, previous year) and alcohol abuse (1.7 %, previous year). The less frequent mental disorders are adult separation anxiety (0.1 %, previous year), alcohol dependence (0.3 %, previous year), agoraphobia without panic (0.4 %, previous
year) and oppositional

Thread started at Forum 4 Politics on 04-05-2012 07:28 AM

Cute. . .except that, you forget to take into consideration that, in Belgium EVERYONE has access (if they wish) to appropriate mental health care. . .while in the US, probably as many of one third of the homeless people (maybe more) are suffering from UNDIAGNOSED mental illness, simply because it is too difficult to access the mental health programs.

In fact, many of the drug addicts in THIS country turn to drugs as a means to "self-medicate" because they do NOT have access to psychotropic medication.

Talk about an invalid study! It's like comparing apples and oranges!

Originally Posted by Forum4PoliticsBot

FREQUENCY OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN BELGIUM

Overall, almost a third of the Belgian population suffered from at least one of the studied mental disorders once in their lifetime.

Interesting, a fifth of Belgians are Muslim immigrants who practice cousin marriages, a coincidence or not?

A WHO study showed that only 12 per cent of Belgians are suffering from mental disorders and figures may vary depending on how you define mental illness.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/n...-is-staggering

Of course they do. They have no cohesive sovereign identity.

Originally Posted by Leatherface

Of course they do. They have no cohesive sovereign identity.

Maybe that, is exactly our cohesive sovereign identity.