Publications by authors named "Ali Al-Hamzawi"
Article Synopsis
- A large-scale, cross-national study examined the impact of removing the "excessiveness" requirement for diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among individuals living in challenging circumstances.
- Data from over 133,000 adults across various income countries revealed that eliminating this criterion raises the global prevalence of GAD from 2.6% to 4.0%, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
- Non-excessive worriers, while less severe, exhibit similar socio-demographic traits and impairment levels as excessive worriers, indicating they are significant cases deserving diagnosis and treatment.
Background: Mental health service providers are increasingly interested in patient perspectives. We examined rates and predictors of patient-reported satisfaction and perceived helpfulness in a cross-national general population survey of adults with 12-month DSM-IV disorders who saw a provider for help with their mental health.
Methods: Data were obtained from epidemiological surveys in the World Mental Health Survey Initiative.
Background: Information on the frequency and timing of mental disorder onsets across the lifespan is of fundamental importance for public health planning. Broad, cross-national estimates of this information from coordinated general population surveys were last updated in 2007. We aimed to provide updated and improved estimates of age-of-onset distributions, lifetime prevalence, and morbid risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The most common treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) is antidepressant medication (ADM). Results are reported on frequency of ADM use, reasons for use, and perceived effectiveness of use in general population surveys across 20 countries.
Methods: Face-to-face interviews with community samples totaling = 49 919 respondents in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys asked about ADM use anytime in the prior 12 months in conjunction with validated fully structured diagnostic interviews.
Article Synopsis
- Patient-reported helpfulness of treatment is a key measure of quality in patient-centered mental health care, focusing on experiences with various common disorders.
- A study of over 10,000 respondents from 30 global surveys found that while only 26.1% found the first treatment helpful, the likelihood of finding helpful treatment increased significantly with each additional professional seen.
- Despite higher treatment-seeking behavior in high-income countries, the perceived helpfulness of treatments was similar across both high-income and low- to middle-income countries, highlighting the need to encourage persistence in seeking help for mental health issues.
Perceived helpfulness of treatment for social anxiety disorder: findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
October 2022
Purpose: To investigate the prevalence and predictors of perceived helpfulness of treatment in persons with a history of DSM-IV social anxiety disorder (SAD), using a worldwide population-based sample.
Methods: The World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys is a coordinated series of community epidemiological surveys of non-institutionalized adults; 27 surveys in 24 countries (16 in high-income; 11 in low/middle-income countries; N = 117,856) included people with a lifetime history of treated SAD.
Results: In respondents with lifetime SAD, approximately one in five ever obtained treatment.
Background: Mental healthcare is delivered across service sectors that differ in level of specialization and intervention modalities typically offered. Little is known about the perceived helpfulness of the combinations of service sectors that patients use.
Methods: Respondents 18 + years with 12-month DSM-IV mental or substance use disorders who saw a provider for mental health problems in the year before interview were identified from WHO World Mental Health surveys in 17 countries.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the impact of prior mental disorders on outcomes for people diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) over the past year.
- The analysis utilized data from a large sample (over 80,000 adults) across 27 countries, focusing on various types of mental disorders and their effects on depression-related issues like suicidality and impairment in daily functioning.
- Findings reveal that a significant majority of individuals with 12-month MDD had preceding mental disorders, particularly noting that non-depressive disorders were linked to worse depression outcomes, indicating a need for thorough psychiatric assessments in these patients.
Background: Treatment guidelines for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are based on a relatively small number of randomized controlled trials and do not consider patient-centered perceptions of treatment helpfulness. We investigated the prevalence and predictors of patient-reported treatment helpfulness for DSM-5 GAD and its two main treatment pathways: encounter-level treatment helpfulness and persistence in help-seeking after prior unhelpful treatment.
Methods: Data came from community epidemiologic surveys in 23 countries in the WHO World Mental Health surveys.
Background: Although randomized trials show that specific phobia treatments can be effective, it is unclear whether patients experience treatment as helpful in clinical practice. We investigated this issue by assessing perceived treatment helpfulness for specific phobia in a cross-national epidemiological survey.
Methods: Cross-sectional population-based WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys in 24 countries (n=112,507) assessed lifetime specific phobia.
Background: Depressive and anxiety disorders are highly comorbid, which has been theorized to be due to an underlying internalizing vulnerability. We aimed to identify groups of participants with differing vulnerabilities by examining the course of internalizing psychopathology up to age 45.
Methods: We used data from 24158 participants (aged 45+) in 23 population-based cross-sectional World Mental Health Surveys.
Importance: The perceived helpfulness of treatment is an important patient-centered measure that is a joint function of whether treatment professionals are perceived as helpful and whether patients persist in help-seeking after previous unhelpful treatments.
Objective: To examine the prevalence and factors associated with the 2 main components of perceived helpfulness of treatment in a representative sample of individuals with a lifetime history of DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD).
Design, Setting, And Participants: This study examined the results of a coordinated series of community epidemiologic surveys of noninstitutionalized adults using the World Health Organization World Mental Health surveys.
Background: There is a substantial proportion of patients who drop out of treatment before they receive minimally adequate care. They tend to have worse health outcomes than those who complete treatment. Our main goal is to describe the frequency and determinants of dropout from treatment for mental disorders in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Prevalences of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) and Mental Health Disorders (MHDs) in many individual countries have been reported but there are few cross-national studies. The WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative standardizes methodological factors facilitating comparison of the prevalences and associated factors of AUDs in a large number of countries to identify differences and commonalities.
Methods: Lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates of DSM-IV AUDs, MHDs, and associations were assessed in the 29 WMH surveys using the WHO CIDI 3.
Article Synopsis
- Illicit drug use and related health issues have increased over the past decades, but knowledge gaps exist, particularly in understanding the prevalence of dependence, making it hard to compare data across countries.
- The World Mental Health Surveys Initiative collected data from 27 surveys across 25 countries using standardized methods to assess drug use disorders (DUDs) among adults.
- Results showed that DUD prevalence varies significantly by country income level, with higher rates in wealthier nations, and DUDs were more prevalent among men and younger individuals, often linked to other mental disorders.
Background: Specific phobia (SP) is a relatively common disorder associated with high levels of psychiatric comorbidity. Because of its early onset, SP may be a useful early marker of internalizing psychopathology, especially if generalized to multiple situations. This study aimed to evaluate the association of childhood generalized SP with comorbid internalizing disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Limited empirical research has examined the extent to which cohort-level prevalence of substance use is associated with the onset of drug use and transitioning into greater involvement with drug use.
Objective: To use cross-national data to examine time-space variation in cohort-level drug use to assess its associations with onset and transitions across stages of drug use, abuse, dependence, and remission.
Design, Setting, And Participants: The World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys carried out cross-sectional general population surveys in 25 countries using a consistent research protocol and assessment instrument.
Aims: To examine cross-national patterns of 12-month substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and minimally adequate treatment (MAT), and associations with mental disorder comorbidity.
Design: Cross-sectional, representative household surveys.
Setting: Twenty-seven surveys from 25 countries of the WHO World Mental Health Survey Initiative.
Background: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, version 5 (DSM-5) definition of agoraphobia (AG) as an independent diagnostic entity makes it timely to re-examine the epidemiology of AG. Study objective was to present representative data on the characteristics of individuals who meet DSM-IV criteria for AG (AG without a history of panic disorder [PD] and PD with AG) but not DSM-5 criteria, DSM-5 but not DSM-IV criteria, or both sets of criteria.
Methods: Population-based surveys from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative including adult respondents (n = 136,357) from 27 countries across the world.
Psychotic experiences (PEs) are associated with a range of mental and physical disorders, and disability, but little is known about the association between PEs and aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We aimed to investigate the association between PEs and five HRQoL indicators with various adjustments. Using data from the WHO World Mental Health surveys (n = 33,370 adult respondents from 19 countries), we assessed for PEs and five HRQoL indicators (self-rated physical or mental health, perceived level of stigma (embarrassment and discrimination), and social network burden).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Previous work has identified associations between psychotic experiences (PEs) and general medical conditions (GMCs), but their temporal direction remains unclear as does the extent to which they are independent of comorbid mental disorders.
Methods: In total, 28 002 adults in 16 countries from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys were assessed for PEs, GMCs and 21 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) mental disorders. Discrete-time survival analyses were used to estimate the associations between PEs and GMCs with various adjustments.
Background: Anxiety disorders are a major cause of burden of disease. Treatment gaps have been described, but a worldwide evaluation is lacking. We estimated, among individuals with a 12-month DSM-IV (where DSM is Diagnostic Statistical Manual) anxiety disorder in 21 countries, the proportion who (i) perceived a need for treatment; (ii) received any treatment; and (iii) received possibly adequate treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Prior research has found bidirectional associations between psychotic experiences (PEs) and selected substance use disorders. We aimed to extend this research by examining the bidirectional association between PEs and various types of substance use (SU) and substance use disorders (SUDs), and the influence of antecedent mental disorders on these associations.
Design, Setting, Participants And Measurements: We used data from the World Health Organization World Mental Health surveys.