Drop out from out-patient mental healthcare in the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey initiative.

Background: Previous community surveys of the drop out from mental health treatment have been carried out only in the USA and Canada.

Aims: To explore mental health treatment drop out in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys.

Method: Representative face-to-face household surveys were conducted among adults in 24 countries.

Self-reported incident type 2 diabetes in the Ibadan study of ageing: relationship with urban residence and socioeconomic status.

Background: There is no incident study of diabetes among elderly Nigerians and it is unclear what factors may constitute risks for the condition in this society undergoing rapid social changes.

Objective: This study explores the link between urban residence and socioeconomic status, and incident diabetes among community-dwelling elderly Nigerians.

Methods: A cohort of 2,149 persons, aged 65 years and above, were recruited through a clustered multistage sampling in eight contiguous predominantly Yoruba-speaking states in south-western and north-central regions of Nigeria.

Epidemiology of schizophrenia--an update with a focus on developing countries.

Developments over the past few decades in analytical epidemiological research in schizophrenia have challenged some long-held views about the disorder. For example, the conventional view that schizophrenia may have a favourable outcome in developing countries is currently being challenged by emerging empirical data. However, quality research from developing countries is still relatively scarce.

Mental disorders and earnings: results from the Nigerian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being (NSMHW).

Background: Mental disorders are associated with a loss in earnings both at the individual and societal level. Very few studies have addressed the issue of the cost of mental illness in Sub-saharan Africa. These studies have been largely hospital based, localized, and have addressed only a few mental disorders using very small sample sizes.

Role of common mental and physical disorders in partial disability around the world.

Background: Mental and physical disorders are associated with total disability, but their effects on days with partial disability (i.e. the ability to perform some, but not full-role, functioning in daily life) are not well understood.

Early-life mental disorders and adult household income in the World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Better information on the human capital costs of early-onset mental disorders could increase sensitivity of policy makers to the value of expanding initiatives for early detection and treatment. Data are presented on one important aspect of these costs: the associations of early-onset mental disorders with adult household income.

Methods: Data come from the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Surveys in 11 high-income, five upper-middle income, and six low/lower-middle income countries.

Parent psychopathology and offspring mental disorders: results from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Associations between specific parent and offspring mental disorders are likely to have been overestimated in studies that have failed to control for parent comorbidity.

Aims: To examine the associations of parent with respondent disorders.

Method: Data come from the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Surveys (n = 51 507).

Body dysmorphic disorder in a Nigerian boy presenting as depression: a case report and literature review.

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has been described widely in the Western world as relatively common yet under-recognized, but rarely in Africans and none in Nigeria to the best of our knowledge.

Aim: To report a case of BDD in a Nigerian boy presenting with depression to the psychiatric unit of a teaching hospital.

Method: A 17-year-old secondary school boy with BDD presenting with depression is reported and relevant literature is reviewed.

Measuring the stigma of psychiatry and psychiatrists: development of a questionnaire.

The stigma of mental illness is a severe burden for people suffering from mental illness both in private and public life, also affecting their relatives, their close social network, and the mental health care system in terms of disciplines, providers, and institutions. Interventions against the stigma of mental illness employ complementary strategies (e.g.

Differential outcome of schizophrenia: where we are and where we would like to be.

Studies examining comparative outcomes of schizophrenia in high-income countries with those in low- and middle-income countries remain of interest to researchers and may be of value in understanding some environmental factors that influence the course and outcome of the disorder. The view that the disorder has a better outcome in low- and middle-income countries compared with high-income countries, even though widespread and supported by a set of World Health Organization (WHO) studies, requires further testing and exploration. Unfortunately, although not insurmountable, the obstacles for such studies both in terms of implementation and interpretation are considerable.

The natural history of insomnia in the Ibadan study of ageing.

Study Objectives: To determine the incidence and risk factors for insomnia among an under-studied population of elderly persons in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Setting: Eight contiguous predominantly Yoruba-speaking states in south-west and north-central Nigeria representing about 22% of the national population.

Participants: 1307 elderly community-dwelling persons, aged 65 years and older.

Prevalence of insomnia and impact on quality of life among community elderly subjects with tinnitus.

Objectives: We sought to determine the prevalence of insomnia and its impact on the quality of life (QoL) among community elderly subjects (at least 65 years of age) with subjective tinnitus.

Methods: After household selection with multistage stratified area probability sampling, face-to-face interviews were used to obtain self-reports of subjective tinnitus and insomnia, and QoL was assessed with the WHOQoL-Bref instrument.

Results: Among 1302 elderly subjects, there were 183 subjects (109 female and 74 male) with tinnitus.

Incidence of and risk factors for dementia in the Ibadan study of aging.

Objectives: To describe the incidence of dementia in a representative sample of elderly Yoruba Nigerians and provide information about the risk factors.

Design: In-home face-to-face assessments conducted on a community cohort selected using multistage clustered sampling of households, with baseline between November 2003 and August 2004 (n=2,149) and follow-up approximately 39 months later (n=1,408).

Setting: Eight contiguous, predominantly Yoruba-speaking states in Nigeria.

Cross-national comparisons of sex differences in opportunities to use alcohol or drugs, and the transitions to use.

Sex differences in opportunities to use alcohol or drugs, and transition to use, were investigated in 15 surveys, in 2001-2004 (Europe 6; Americas 3; Africa 2, Asia 3; Oceania 1). The paper focuses on 18-29 year olds (N = 9,873). The World Mental Health Survey Initiative oversaw the surveys; each country obtained its own funding.

Chronic pain conditions and depression in the Ibadan Study of Ageing.

Background: Chronic pain is quite common in the elderly and is often associated with comorbid depression, limitation of functioning and reduced quality of life. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether there is a differential risk of depression among persons with pain in different anatomical sites and to determine which pain conditions are independent risk factors for depression.

Methods: Data are from the Ibadan Study of Ageing (ISA), a community-based longitudinal survey of persons aged 65 years and older from eight contiguous Yoruba-speaking states in Nigeria (n = 2152).

Dysthymia in a cross-cultural perspective.

Purpose Of Review: Dysthymia is a relatively less-studied condition within the spectrum of depressive disorders. New and important information about its status has emerged in recent scientific literature. This review highlights some of the findings of that literature.

Childhood adversities and adult psychopathology in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Although significant associations of childhood adversities with adult mental disorders are widely documented, most studies focus on single childhood adversities predicting single disorders.

Aims: To examine joint associations of 12 childhood adversities with first onset of 20 DSM-IV disorders in World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys in 21 countries.

Method: Nationally or regionally representative surveys of 51 945 adults assessed childhood adversities and lifetime DSM-IV disorders with the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

WPA guidance on how to combat stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists.

In 2009 the WPA President established a Task Force that was to examine available evidence about the stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists and to make recommendations about action that national psychiatric societies and psychiatrists as professionals could do to reduce or prevent the stigmatization of their discipline as well as to prevent its nefarious consequences. This paper presents a summary of the Task Force's findings and recommendations. The Task Force reviewed the literature concerning the image of psychiatry and psychiatrists in the media and the opinions about psychiatry and psychiatrists of the general public, of students of medicine, of health professionals other than psychiatrists and of persons with mental illness and their families.