To find the
prevalence of 8
mental disorders and study
knowledge,
attitude, practice (KAP) upon
mental health among people in Bangkok Metropolis a cross sectional, descriptive
community survey was conducted. Two thousand, nine hundred and forty eight samples
aged 15-60 years were selected by a multistage
simple random sampling technique.
Data collection was made by qualified
interviewers who had experience in
mental health care and had been trained to use the questionaires. The questionaires had been modified from
DSM-IV and CIDI that had been tested for good
validity and reliability. The survey methodology was divided into 2 stages,
screening and
diagnosis. The results showed that the
life time prevalence of
mental disorders were;
schizophrenia (1.3%),
mood disorders;
manic episode (9.3%), major depressive episode (19.9%),
dysthymia (1%),
anxiety disorders (10.2%),
mental retardation (1.8%),
epilepsy (1.3%), suicidal idea (7.1%),
drug and substances use disorders (11.2%), and
alcohol use disorders (18.4%).
Knowledge score was good,
attitude was fairly good, practice was still weak in promotion and prevention aspects. As such, this study was used as a pattern to conduct a national
survey in 14 provinces all over
Thailand and the results are being summarized. The information is
similar to the Global
Burden of Diseases. We produced a national
training program on "
Detection and Management of
Depression" for
Primary Care Physicians that was, a 2 days'
workshop. Other national programs promoting prevention and control have also been set up.