[Relations between mental health and work. Review of the literature].

Interest in occupational mental illness has increased as a result also of the technological changes at the workplace. A total of 22 epidemiological studies on this topic were reviewed on the following basis: subject of the study, epidemiological design, type of psychometric scale, results. The authors discuss the methods and constraints of these studies, especially the lack of knowledge on occupational exposure and its relationship to mental health.

Effects of occupational status on the mental health of young Italian men and women. A cross-sectional study.

The study was carried out on 548 subjects (307 women, 244 men) between the ages of 21 and 26, who had all obtained secondary school certificates. The survey was conducted in two contrasting areas, one showing a high rate of unemployment, the other a rate below the national average. The sample was divided into three groups according to occupational status: employed persons, students and persons seeking their first employment.

A transition period in psychiatric care in Italy ten years after the reform.

Ten years after the passing of the Italian psychiatric reform bill, the author assesses the state of the national mental health services. Albeit slowly, the decrease in the number of in-patients in mental hospitals is accompanied by a numerical increase in district and out-patient services. However, the quality of care provided and the regional distribution of services are not acceptable.

[Unemployment and psychiatric disorders: etiologic hypotheses and empiric evidence of the psychopathologic effects of the suspension of employment].

Many European countries have been affected by mass-unemployment, which in Italy has reached an incidence of 13% of the population. Although the social and economic costs of unemployment are common knowledge, we still know little about its effects on mental health. This seems to be due more to the lack of interest in this aspect among physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists than to the lack of meaningful results.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among subjects exposed to a natural disaster.

A general practice study was carried out in 3 areas of the province of Naples, in southern Italy: Pozzuoli (PZ), a town exposed to significant seismic events in 1983, Monte Ruscello (MR), a village built to accommodate the victims of the earthquake, and Monte di Procida (MP), a town selected as a control since it is situated near PZ and was not significantly affected by the earthquake. The sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects examined were comparable in the 3 areas. The estimate of the real prevalence of psychiatric disorders according to Diamond & Lilienfeld was found to be higher in PZ and MR than in MP.

The Italian mental health reform nine years on.

It is 9 years since the mental health reform was passed by the Italian Parliament. The author presents a data-based evaluation of the effects of the Italian mental health reform. There are still many problems to be resolved: More than 30,000 inpatients are still in psychiatric hospitals and little is known of the fate of those discharged in recent years.

Psychiatry without asylums: origins and prospects in Italy.

In 1978, Italy became the first country in the world to pass a law eliminating mental hospitals and replacing them with services in the community. This victory was in large part due to the foresight and commitment of psychiatrist Franco Basaglia and his colleagues, whose work showed how psychiatric assistance could be realized in practice without asylums and without force and violence. This article analyzes why the anti-institutional reform took place in Italy when it did, and reviews twenty years of reform activity involving an alliance between democratic mental health professionals, politicians, workers' organizations, and private citizens.