ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a few of the key, conceptual and substantive issues that represent some of the current major points of discussion in child psychiatric epidemiology. Epidemiology comprises the study of the distribution of disorders in a defined population, together with an examination of the factors that influence that distribution. The findings showed that psychiatric problems were twice as frequent in the organic brain pathology group. The more traditional medical approach can be employed in which there is a prior decision as to whether the child has any disorder and then the clinician has to decide which it is. The chapter explores some of the key methodological issues that apply to any use of epidemiological data in the field of child psychiatry, and discusses the way such data may be used to tackle the testing of causal hypothesis.
