NCJ Number
134334
Journal
American Journal of Psychiatry Volume: 148 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1991) Pages: 236-239
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
To estimate the prevalence of severe mental disorders in a representative sample of sentenced prisoners, a randomly selected sample of 158 men and 31 women sentenced prisoners in Melbourne's three metropolitan prisons were interviewed, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R was used to diagnose psychotic, affective, and substance use disorders.
Abstract
A lifetime diagnosis of at least one mental disorder each was made for 82 percent of the respondents; more than one lifetime disorder was diagnosed for 26 percent. Six prisoners (3 percent) received current diagnoses of psychotic disorders, and 23 (12 percent) were diagnosed as having current mood disorders, primarily major depression. Diagnoses of dependence on or abuse of alcohol and/or illicit substances were made for 69 percent of the sample. There were no significant associations between the minimum sentence length or time since entry into prison and a diagnosis of current mood disorder nor was there an association between age and the prevalence of either lifetime or current disorders of any type. The findings highlight the diversion into the corrections system of substance-dependent people and the apparent pool of prisoners with largely untreated major depression. 2 tables and 13 references