ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews epidemiologic evidence on the burden of mental disorders worldwide and focuses on estimates of the disability of commonly occurring mental disorders. Many studies in high-income countries have estimated the effects of specific disorders on disability (Berto, D’Ilario, Ruffo, Di Virgilio, & Rizzo, 2000; Maetzel & Li, 2002; Reed, Lee, & McCrory, 2004). In particular, a considerable amount of research has been carried out in the U.S. to quantify the magnitude of the short-term societal costs of mental disorders in terms of healthcare expenditures, impaired functioning, and reduced longevity (Greenberg & Birnbaum, 2005; (Greenberg et al., 1999). The magnitude of the cost estimates in these studies is staggering. For example, Greenberg and colleagues (1999) estimated that over the decade of the 1990s, the annual societal costs of anxiety disorders in the U.S. exceeded $42 billion. Further, this estimate is likely conservative, as it excludes the indirect costs of early-onset anxiety disorders due to adverse life course outcomes (e.g., the effects of childadolescent anxiety disorders on subsequent low educational attainment and consequent long-term effects on income) and to increased risk of other disorders (e.g., the effects of anxiety disorders on subsequent cardiovascular disorder).
