Abstract

Objectives: The present study was an epidemiological assessment of mental disorders among 15 years or older residents of urbanized areas of the town of Natanz.

Method: This was a cross sectional and retrospective study. By using existing files in the mental health network, 650 families randomly and systemically were selected and their members’ gender was identified as the subjects of the study. Data were gathered in two stages at first, randomly one person from each family, 650 were selected to be assessed by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). In the second stage, 62 man and 107 women whose GHQ scores were above the cut off point were further evaluated by clinical interviews on the basis of DSM-IV criteria.

Findings: This study showed that the epidemiological rate of mental disorders is 17.2% for men and 31.3% for women. Significant correlations were obtained between subjects’ mental disorder with their age, sex, level of education, marital status, employment status, and family history of illness. The most prevalent disorders were dysthymia (5.8%), generalized anxiety (5.3%), and depression (3.3%).

Results: Deficiency in affection, financial insufficiency, and prior history of mental illness in the family increase the likelihood of mental disorders particularly the mild ones.This study showed that the prevalence of mental disorders in the examined town (24.2%) was above the findings of other studies.

Abstract

Objectives: In this project, the mental health status of mothers with children afflicted with psy-chiatric disorders was compared with that of the mothers of children without psychological comp- laints.

Method: 57 mothers of children afflicted with psychiatric disorders and 56 mothers of children without psychological  complaints were selected as the subjects of the study via available sampling. The subjects from  the two groups were matched in terms of some demographic variables. To collect data the 28-question version of General Health Questionnaire was  used. Data were analyzed via multivariate analysis of variance.

Findings: The mean scores of mothers of children with psychiatric disorders were higher than those of the mothers of children with no psychological complaints in the subscales of somatic synd- rome, anxiety syndrome, social functioning, and depressive syndrome the difference was more con- siderable in anxiety syndrome.

Results: The mothers of children afflicted with psychiatric disorders experience more depression and anxiety, lower social functioning and physical health than mothers of children with no psy-chological complaints.