Prevalence of psychological distress and mental disorders, and use of mental health services in the epidemiological catchment area of Montreal South-West

A longitudinal study in the form of a community survey was used, complemented by focused qualitative sub-studies. The longitudinal study included a randomly selected sample of 2,433 individuals between the ages of 15 and 65 in the first wave of data collection, and three other waves are projected. An overview of the methods is presented.The prevalence of psychological distress, mental disorders and use of mental health services and their correlates are described for the first wave of data collection.Several vulnerable groups and risk factors related to socio-demographic variables have been identified such as: gender, age, marital status, income, immigration and language. These results can be used to improve treatment services, prevention of mental disorders, and mental health promotion.This paper describes the objectives, the theoretical model and the methodology of a research program for the development of an epidemiologic catchment area in the South-West sector of Montreal. It also presents the results of the prevalence of psychological distress and mental disorders and the use of mental health services and their correlates for the first wave of data collection in this longitudinal study. More specifically, the influence of age and gender on the prevalences will be discussed, as well as the comorbidity of mental disorders by gender. Finally, vulnerable groups and socio-demographic risk factors for psychological distress and mental disorders will be presented.This program can be classified among the “third generation of Psychiatric Epidemiology studies” [1], but it includes many innovative elements and methods. In the early eighties, the National Institute of Mental Health (USA) supported a program of epidemiological research based on community surveys, involving five U.S. sites of approximately 200,000 people [2]. The studies documented the changes in the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders and the use of mental health services among these populations ove