A 45-year longitudinal study shows that mental illness is astonishingly common and that it's better to be a “lumper” than a “splitter” when thinking diagnostically.
Cross-sectional epidemiological surveys have documented high rates of lifetime psychiatric disorders (about 40%–50%) and substantial comorbidity, causing critics to question the nosologic validity of individual DSM diagnoses. These researchers analyzed data from a New Zealand birth cohort (N=1013); DSM disorders were assessed nine times between ages 11 and 45; cognitive function or brain health was assessed five times.
Diagnoses spanned externalizing (conduct, substance use, attention-deficit/hyperactivity), internalizing (mood, anxiety, eating), and cognitive (obsessive-compulsive, schizophrenia, bipolar) types of disorders. Overall, 86% of participants met criteria for a disorder at some point; of this group, 85% had multiple disorders, an…
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