Demand for mental health care and changes in service use patterns in the Netherlands, 1979 to 1995.

Objective: Mental health services appear increasingly incapable of satisfying the demand for care, which may cause some segments of the population to be less effectively reached. This study investigated the rates of use of mental health services in the Netherlands from 1979 to 1995 and examined whether particular sociodemographic groups made greater or lesser relative use of these services over time.

Methods: Data were derived from the Facilities Use Surveys, a series of Dutch cross-sectional population studies that have recorded household characteristics and service use since 1979.

Depressive symptoms in the Netherlands 1975-1996: a theoretical framework and an empirical analysis of socio-demographic characteristics, gender differences and changes over time.

This article examines the longitudinal trend of depressive symptoms in the Netherlands, using large-scale national data recorded over the period 1975-1996. Our analyses showed fluctuations in the overall longitudinal trend. On the basis of a general theoretical framework, we formulated hypotheses concerning which socio-demographic characteristics determine the likelihood of suffering from depressive symptoms and how these associations might have changed over time.