How common are common mental disorders? Evidence that lifetime prevalence rates are doubled by prospective versus retrospective ascertainment

Moffitt, T. E.; Caspi, A.; Taylor, A.; Kokaua, J.; Milne, B. J.; Polanczyk, G.; Poulton, R.

doi:10.1017/s0033291709991036

How common are common mental disorders? Evidence that lifetime prevalence rates are doubled by prospective versus retrospective ascertainment

Background Most information about the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders comes from retrospective surveys, but how much these surveys have undercounted due to recall failure is unknown. We compared results from a prospective study with those from retrospective studies. Method The representat…