First cannabis use: does onset shift to younger ages? Findings from 1988 to 2003 from the Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use.

Aims: To investigate the hypothesis that changes in cannabis prevalence among Dutch secondary school students (aged 12-17 years) were paralleled by shifts in the age of first cannabis use.

Design And Participants: Data were derived from five waves (1988, 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003) of the Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use, a nationally representative cross-sectional study, with a total of 32,777 respondents.

Measurements: Written questionnaires on cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, other drug use and socio-demographic and behavioural variables were administered in classroom settings.

Hearing impairment and psychosis revisited.

The previously reported but still poorly investigated link between deafness or hearing impairment (DHI) and the onset of positive psychotic experiences was investigated prospectively in a general population sample. Of the 109 DHI subjects at baseline, 11 (10.1%) displayed psychotic experiences at T(2) versus 137 (2.

The craving withdrawal model for alcoholism: towards the DSM-V. Improving the discriminant validity of alcohol use disorder diagnosis.

Aims: To compare the discriminant validity of the DSM-IV and the ICD-10 classification of alcohol use disorders (AUD) with an alternative classification, the craving withdrawal model (CWM). CWM requires craving and withdrawal for the diagnosis of alcohol dependence and raises the alcohol abuse threshold to two DSM-IV AUD criteria.

Methods: Data were derived from The Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study, a large representative sample of the general Dutch population.

Development of depressed mood predicts onset of psychotic disorder in individuals who report hallucinatory experiences.

Objectives: Current psychological theories state that the clinical outcome of hallucinatory experiences is dependent on the degree of associated distress, anxiety, and depression. This study examined the hypothesis that the risk for onset of psychotic disorder in individuals with self-reported hallucinatory experiences would be higher in those who subsequently developed depressed mood than in those who did not.

Design: A prospective cohort study of a general population sample.

Lifetime prevalence estimates of major depression: an indirect estimation method and a quantification of recall bias.

The measurement of lifetime prevalence of depression in cross-sectional surveys is biased by recall problems. We estimated it indirectly for two countries using modelling, and quantified the underestimation in the empirical estimate for one. A microsimulation model was used to generate population-based epidemiological measures of depression.

What do we know about deaf clients after thirteen years of ambulatory mental health care? An analysis of the PsyDon database, 1987-1999.

Little is known about demographic, deafness-related, and diagnostic characteristics of deaf and partially hearing people with psychosocial or psychiatric problems. A study was conducted derived from data from intake assessment interviews of people with hearing loss treated at a Dutch ambulatory mental health center for the deaf between 1987 and 1999. Both sexes were equally represented.

Does supported living in residential homes improve the quality of life and mental stability of older adults with chronic mental disorder?

Objective: Supported living in residential homes for the elderly is an innovative, age-appropriate residential program for older adults with chronic mental disorders. The program involves 1) accommodation in ordinary "elder care" homes; and 2) provision of on-site mental health care by professionals from the local psychiatric hospital. The authors asked whether the program succeeds in improving the patients' quality of life without compromising their mental stability.

Young adults' recollections of parental bonds--does satisfaction with partner relationships mediate the longitudinal association with mental disorders?

Background: Recollections of cold and overprotective behaviors from parents have been hypothesized to lead to the presence of mental disorders in young adulthood through their detrimental effects on individuals' satisfaction in later partner relationships. Previous studies have not explicitly tested, however, whether partner relationship satisfaction mediates the longitudinal relationship from parental bonds to DSM-III-R disorders in young adults.

Methods: We examined: (1) whether recollections of parental bonds in the first 16 years of life were related to the prevalence of DSM-III-R mental disorders in young adulthood, and (2) whether young adults' satisfaction with current partner relationships mediated these links.

The role of stigma in the quality of life of older adults with severe mental illness.

Background: Stigma and discrimination against older people with mental illness is a seriously neglected problem.

Objectives: (1) To investigate whether stigmatisation of older adults with mental disorder is associated with the type of residential institution they live in or the type of disorder they suffer and (2) to assess the role of stigma experiences in their quality of life.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out of 131 older adults with severe mental illness, recruited in 18 elder care homes operating supported living programmes and in eight psychiatric hospitals throughout the Netherlands.

Pathways to comorbidity: the transition of pure mood, anxiety and substance use disorders into comorbid conditions in a longitudinal population-based study.

Background: To describe transitions to comorbidity within a 3-year period in three cohorts of subjects with at baseline a 12-month pure mood, anxiety or substance use disorder but no lifetime history of any other disorder category. To assess the role of personal and social vulnerability factors, life events, clinical factors and functional disability in the pathway to comorbidity.

Methods: Data were derived from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS), a prospective epidemiologic study of a representative sample of 7076 adults aged 18-65, interviewed in three waves (baseline, 1 and 3 years after baseline) with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Functioning after a major depressive episode: complete or incomplete recovery?

Background: Numerous studies have shown improved functioning after a depression, but often substantial limitations at follow-up remained. The goal of this study is to examine (1) whether functioning returns to pre-morbid levels after a major depressive episode (MDE), (2) predictors of incomplete functional recovery, and (3) how these functional levels relate to those in a non-depressed sample.

Methods: Data were derived from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study, a prospective general population study with three waves.

Selecting key variables for depression prevention: results from a population-based prospective epidemiological study.

Background: Given the existing economic constraints, prevention of depression has to be carefully targeted, and applied where it is likely to yield the highest possible health benefits at the lowest possible cost.

Aim: To identify those risk factors of depression that have the greatest use potential from the perspective of prevention.

Method: Data were derived from a population-based prospective cohort of 4664 adults who had never experienced a depression.

Determinants of persistence of major depressive episodes in the general population. Results from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS).

Background: Data on determinants of persistence of major depressive episodes (MDE) are inconsistent due to methodological shortcomings of the studies involved.

Aims: To examine determinants of persistence of MDE in subjects from the general population (N=250) with new episodes of DSM-III-R major depression.

Method: The Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study is a prospective epidemiologic survey in the adult population (N=7076), using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

Negative and positive participant responses to the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study.

Background: Little is known about the emotional responses of participants in community surveys to standardised psychiatric interviews like the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). This study investigates the proportion of subjects responding negatively or positively to the CIDI, and identifies their sociodemographic, psychopathological, personality and social characteristics.

Methods: At the end of the three-wave Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study, 4796 participants aged 18-64 at baseline were questioned about how the interviews had affected them.

What depressive symptoms are associated with the use of care services? Results from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS).

Background: Depression is generally regarded as a serious, incapacitating illness. Although effective treatment strategies are available, timely recognition remains a stumbling block. We investigated the rates of health service uptake among depressed people and the specific depressive symptoms associated with service use, after adjustment for other illness characteristics and sociodemographic variables.

Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys.

Context: Little is known about the extent or severity of untreated mental disorders, especially in less-developed countries.

Objective: To estimate prevalence, severity, and treatment of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) mental disorders in 14 countries (6 less developed, 8 developed) in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Face-to-face household surveys of 60 463 community adults conducted from 2001-2003 in 14 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Minor depression: risk profiles, functional disability, health care use and risk of developing major depression.

Background: minor depression has been found to affect quality of life, result in a increased service utilization, and lead to an increased risk of developing a major depression. In this study we examine risk profiles, functional disability, service utilization and the risk of developing major depression in minor depression.

Methods: a random sample of the Dutch population (n=7076) was interviewed at baseline and 1 and 3 years later (response rate: 69.

Integrating mental health care into residential homes for the elderly: an analysis of six Dutch programs for older people with severe and persistent mental illness.

Integrating mental health care into residential homes for the elderly is a potentially effective model to address the complex care needs of older chronically mentally ill people. Because no research was available on the implementation of such integrated care in practice, six programs already operating in the Netherlands were analyzed. At the administrative level, three types of cooperative arrangements existed: a psychiatric hospital renting a unit in a residential home for the elderly, a psychiatric hospital stationing mental health professionals in a residential home on a permanent basis, and a residential home employing its own psychiatrically trained staff.

Sex differences in symptoms of psychosis in a non-selected, general population sample.

Background: Little is known about sex differences in psychosis beyond the borders of clinical disorder.

Methods: A general population sample of 7,076 subjects was assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, in order to explore sex differences in the prevalence of any positive and negative symptoms of psychosis, and to examine to what degree any differences could be explained by differences in level of affective symptoms.

Results: Male sex was associated with higher prevalence of negative symptoms (OR = 1.

The epidemiology of major depressive episodes: results from the International Consortium of Psychiatric Epidemiology (ICPE) Surveys.

Absence of a common diagnostic interview has hampered cross-national syntheses of epidemiological evidence on major depressive episodes (MDE). Community epidemiological surveys using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview administered face-to-face were carried out in 10 countries in North America (Canada and the US), Latin America (Brazil, Chile, and Mexico), Europe (Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Turkey), and Asia (Japan). The total sample size was more than 37,000.

The prevalence of treated and untreated mental disorders in five countries.

We analyzed survey data from Canada, Chile, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United States to study the prevalence and treatment of mental and substance abuse disorders. Total past-year prevalence estimates range between 17.0 percent (Chile) and 29.

Community integration of elderly mentally ill persons in psychiatric hospitals and two types of residences.

Objective: Deinstitutionalization policy in the Netherlands has given rise to two new living arrangements for elderly long-term psychiatric patients. Both involve accommodation in mainstream residential homes for elderly persons, either concentrated in a specialized care unit or dispersed throughout the facility. The authors studied the effectiveness of these two housing models for the community integration of such residents compared with accommodation in a psychiatric hospital.