Citation

Nishi D, Ishikawa H, Kawakami N. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2019; 73(8): 458-465.

Affiliation

Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/pcn.12894

PMID

31141260

Abstract

A high disease burden of mental disorders has been noted worldwide, including Japan. It is important to monitor the trend of the prevalence of mental disorders and the use of mental health services over time using epidemiological data and to plan appropriate policies and measures that consider mental health in each country. This review outlines the trends of the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) and the use of mental health service in Japan from the 2000s to the 2010s, and to compare them with those in other countries. This review clarified that the prevalence of CMD in Japan has been relatively stable in the past decade. The 12-month prevalence of mental health service use has increased about 1.2 times to 1.6 times in the past 10 to 15 years. Thus, it is very likely that the rise in mental health service use contributes to the increase in the number of patients. Regarding cross-national comparison, the prevalence of CMD in Japan is much lower compared to those in the US and Europe. The 12-month prevalence of mental health service use was also lower in Japan compared to prevalence rates in other high-income countries. The mental health epidemiology has clarified that the prevalence of CMD worldwide has been unchanged, though the mental health service use has increased in high-income countries. Thus, the gap in treatment quality and prevention should be addressed in the future. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Japan; common mental disorders; epidemiology; mental health service use; prevalence