(Volume 4) - Mental Health Disorders - Vula - University of Cape Town

The Prevalence of Mental Disorders in the Western CapeThe South African Stress and Health Survey (SASH) is a household surveywhich has recently been completed and which seeks to estimate the nationalprevalence of mental illness. The results show that nearly one in three SouthAfricans will have an episode of mental illness in their life-time (Stein et al, inpress). Nevertheless, annual prevalence and disorder prevalence figures arestill pending.Apart from the SASH data, no other source of reliable data on the prevalenceof mental disorders in the Western Cape Province is available, nor any forSouth Africa as a whole (Corrigall, 2006). Yet expert consensus suggests thatDepression, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Substance Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders and Childhood Behavioural Disorders are the mostcommon psychiatric disorders in the Western Cape Province (Kleintjies et al,2006).The mortality data on injuries provides a proxy measure for the extent ofmental health problems, including substance abuse, in the Western CapeProvince. As only a small fraction of the mentally ill commit suicide, and giventhe high rates of substance abuse associated with homicide and road-trafficaccidents, the latter will provide the most accurate proxy measure for theburden of mental illness.As a marker of the comparative prevalence of mental disorders across theProvinces of South Africa, it is noteworthy that the Western Cape Provincehas the highest proportions of premature deaths due to homicide, road trafficaccidents and suicides, as illustrated in Table 2 below on page 6. (Bradshawet al, 2004).Global projections into the future suggest that the situation will worsen, withdepression predicted to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide in2020 (WHO, 2004).‣ 30% of adults in the Western Cape Province will develop amental disorder in their life-time.‣ Homicide, road-traffic accidents, and suicide rates can givean indication of the extent of mental illness in the Province:suicides alone are a poor proxy measure.- 5 -