Psych Vivas · Professional practice — epidemiology and public mental health
Epidemiology and public mental health — structured clinical viva
Fellowship viva on prevalence interpretation, GBD metrics, prevention frameworks, treatment gap, and survey appraisal.
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Target exams
Interpretation
Reveal interpretation
Table reading. Twelve-month prevalence 20% means one in five adults met criteria in the past year — not rare. Severity band 4% is the smaller group driving much specialist demand, but mild/moderate cases still generate primary care and population disability. Treatment among cases 35% implies a large treatment gap (about two-thirds untreated if "any treatment" is the coverage metric — confirm definition of treatment).[3][4]
GBD slide. High YLD ranking means mental disorders are priority disability conditions for health systems; do not conclude low importance because direct YLLs are lower than for ischaemic heart disease. Mention suicide and physical comorbidity as mortality pathways; note debates that true burden may be underestimated depending on coding boundaries.[1][2][9]
Prevention follow-up. High-risk clinic expansion helps the tail; Rose reminds that many cases arise from average-risk groups, so universal/selective measures (schools, social determinants, ACE-informed family supports) are required for population impact.[5][6]
Suicide follow-up. Population rates and WMH ideation/attempt data justify means restriction and system aftercare; individual prediction from risk factors has limited PPV at community base rates — avoid fatalism and avoid false certainty.[7]
STROBE follow-up. Ask sampling frame, response rate, instrument (CIDI version), diagnostic system, handling of missing data, and limitations before accepting the 20% figure for policy.[8]
Key points
References
- [1]GBD 2019 Mental Disorders Collaborators Global, regional, and national burden of 12 mental disorders in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019 Lancet Psychiatry, 2022.PMID 35026139
- [2]Whiteford HA, Degenhardt L, Rehm J, et al. Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders Lancet, 2013.PMID 23993280
- [3]Demyttenaere K, Bruffaerts R, Posada-Villa J, et al. Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys JAMA, 2004.PMID 15173149
- [4]Kohn R, Saxena S, Levav I, Saraceno B The treatment gap in mental health care Bull World Health Organ, 2004.PMID 15640922
- [5]Rose G Sick individuals and sick populations Int J Epidemiol, 2001.PMID 11416056
- [6]Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, et al. Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The ACE Study Am J Prev Med, 1998.PMID 9635069
- [7]Nock MK, Borges G, Bromet EJ, et al. Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts Br J Psychiatry, 2008.PMID 18245022
- [8]von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, et al. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies Lancet, 2007.PMID 18064739
- [9]Vigo D, Thornicroft G, Atun R Estimating the true global burden of mental illness Lancet Psychiatry, 2016.PMID 26851330