The True Global Disease Burden of Mental Illness: Still Elusive

This new Lancet Psychiatry article critiques the recent Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, and re-estimates the burden of mental, neurological, substance use disorders and suicide. Vigo, Jones, Atun & Thornicroft posit that the GBD study did not capture the disability caused by somatoform and personality disorders, and did not include mortality due to mental disorders. The authors contend that these limitations have large consequences for accurately assessing the burden of mental health, and implement an alternative framework demonstrating that disorders affecting mental health account for a larger proportion of global disease burden than previously estimated.

 

Click this link to access the article.