Psychiatric Epidemiology: Searching for the Causes of Mental Disorders
Ezra Susser, Sharon Schwartz, Alfredo Morabia, and Evelyn Bromet
Abstract
Searching for the causes of mental disorders is as exciting as it is complex. The relationship between pathophysiology and its overt manifestations is exceedingly intricate, and often the causes of a disorder are elusive at best. This book provides a resource for anyone trying to track these causes. Uniting theory and practice and rather than attempting to review the descriptive epidemiology of mental disorders, this book gives a dynamic exposition of the thinking and techniques used to establish it. The book starts out by tracing the brief history of psychiatric epidemiology, then describes t ... More
Searching for the causes of mental disorders is as exciting as it is complex. The relationship between pathophysiology and its overt manifestations is exceedingly intricate, and often the causes of a disorder are elusive at best. This book provides a resource for anyone trying to track these causes. Uniting theory and practice and rather than attempting to review the descriptive epidemiology of mental disorders, this book gives a dynamic exposition of the thinking and techniques used to establish it. The book starts out by tracing the brief history of psychiatric epidemiology, then describes the study of risk factors as causes of mental disorders. Subsequent sections discuss approaches to investigation of biologic, genetic, or social causes and the statistical analysis of study results. The book concludes by following some of the problems involved in the search for genetic causes of mental disorders, and more complex casual relationships.
Keywords:
mental disorders,
pathophysiology,
overt manifestations,
risk factors,
statistical analysis,
casual relationships
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195101812 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195101812.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Ezra Susser, author
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Author Webpage
Sharon Schwartz, author
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Alfredo Morabia, author
Division of Clinical Epidemiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, and Professor of Clinical Eipdemiology at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Evelyn Bromet, author
State University of New York, Stony Brook
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