The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Provide up-to-date detection rates for common mental disorders (CMD) and examine patient service-use since the Preferred Doctor scheme was introduced to France in 2005, with patients encouraged to register with and consult a family practitioner (FP) of their choice.

Study of 1133 consecutive patients consulting 38 FPs in the Montpellier region, replicating a study performed before the scheme. Patients in the waiting room completed the self-report Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and Client Service-Receipt Inventory with questions on registration with a Preferred Doctor and doctor-shopping. CMD was defined as reaching PHQ criteria for depression, somatoform, panic or anxiety disorder. For each patient, FPs completed a questionnaire capturing psychiatric caseness.

81.2% of patients were seeing their Preferred Doctor on the survey-day. Of those with a CMD, 52.6% were detected by the FP. This increased with CMD severity and comorbidity. Detected cases were more likely to be consulting their Preferred Doctor (84.7% versus 79.4% for non-detected cases, p = 0.05) rather than another FP. They declared more visits to psychiatrists (17.2% versus 6.7%, p = 0.002). There was no association with consultation frequency or doctor-shopping, which both declined between the two studies.

The CMD detection rate is relatively high, with no increase compared to our previous study, despite a decline in doctor-shopping. An explanation is the same high proportion of patients visiting their usual FP on the survey-day at both periods, suggesting a limited impact of the scheme on care continuity. FP action taken highlights the importance of improving detection for providing care to patients with CMDs.

To investigate differences in physician-diagnosed psychiatric disorders between women who gave birth to children with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) diagnosis (study group) compared to women who gave birth to children without FASD (comparison group).

We linked population-level health and social services data to clinical data on FASD diagnoses to identify study group (n = 702) and comparison group (n = 2097) women matched 1:3 on date of birth of index child, region of residence, and socioeconomic status. Regression modeling produced relative rates (RRs) for outcomes.

Mothers who gave birth to children with FASD had higher adjusted rates of substance use disorder (RR, 12.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.99-17.80), personality disorder (RR, 12.93; 95% CI, 4.88-34.22), and mood and anxiety disorders (RR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.49-2.07) before the pregnancy of the child. These mothers also had higher adjusted rates of maternal psychological distress during pregnancy (RR, 5.35; 95% CI, 4.58-6.35) and higher rates of postpartum psychological distress (RR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.53-1.90). These women also had higher adjusted rates for antidepressant prescriptions before, during, and after the pregnancy.

A significant psychiatric burden exists for women giving birth to children with FASD. Clinicians should recognise the high rates of psychiatric concerns facing mothers who give birth to children with FASD and should offer treatment and support to these women to improve their health and well-being and prevent further alcohol-exposed pregnancies.

To describe the extent of increase in use and the rate of continuation versus discontinuation of psychotropic agents before, during, and after pregnancy.

Rates of psychotropic use (antidepressants, anxiolytic/sedative-hypnotics, antiepileptics, antipsychotics, lithium, stimulants) among women with a hospital-recorded pregnancy outcome were assessed using databases at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. Rate of use was defined as ≥1 prescription over the total number of pregnancies in the 3-12 months before pregnancy, 0-3 months before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or 3 months after pregnancy. Continued use was defined as ≥2 prescriptions with gap ≤14 days. Poisson regression was used to analyze trends.

Over the study period, a psychotropic drug was used before, during, or after pregnancy in 41,923 of 224,762 pregnancies. From 2001 to 2013, psychotropic use increased 1.5-fold from 11.1% to 16.2% (p < 0.0001) in the 3-12 months before pregnancy, 1.6-fold from 6.4% to 10.5% (p < 0.0001) in the 3 months before pregnancy, 1.8-fold from 3.3% to 6.0% (p < 0.0001) during pregnancy, and 1.5-fold from 6.2% to 9.5% (p < 0.0001) in the 3 months postpartum. Among the 13,579 women who received at least 1 psychotropic agent in the 3 months prior to pregnancy, 38.5% stopped the agent prior to pregnancy and only 10.3% continued use throughout pregnancy. Continued use throughout pregnancy was higher (56.9%) among the 6693 women who received at least 2 prescriptions for a psychotropic agent and were at least 80% adherent in the 3 months prior to pregnancy.

The use of psychotropic agents increased over 12 years. The safety of continuing versus discontinuing these agents during pregnancy remains uncertain, but we observed a decrease in psychotropic drug use during the pregnancy period.

To investigate patterns and predictors of help seeking and met/unmet needs for mental health care in a national population health survey.

Participants were respondents to the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey on Mental Health (CCHS-MH; n = 25,133). We used regression to identify the diagnostic and sociodemographic predictors of the use of informal supports, primary care, and specialist care, as well as perceived unmet needs.

Eleven percent of Canadians reported using professionally led services for mental health or substance use in 2012, while another 9% received informal supports. Two-thirds of people with substance use disorders did not receive any care, and among those who did, informal supports were most common. Seventy-four percent of people with mood/anxiety disorders and 88% of those with co-occurring disorders did access services, most commonly specialist mental health care. Men, older people, members of ethnocultural minorities, those not born in Canada, those with lower education, and those with higher incomes were less likely to receive care. Unmet needs were higher among people with substance use disorders.

Gaps in services continue to exist for some potentially vulnerable population subgroups. Policy and practice solutions are needed to address these unmet needs. In particular, the convergence of research pointing to gaps in the availability and accessibility of high-quality services for substance use in Canada demands attention.

La mesure de la négligence parentale pose de nombreux défis et il existe encore peu d’outil capable de la documenter auprès des parents. L’étude vise à documenter les propriétés psychométriques de la traduction française de la version brève de l’Échelle multidimensionnelle des conduites de négligence parentale dans la population générale.

Cette étude utilise les données d’une enquête téléphonique réalisée auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 3584 mères et 1202 pères d’enfants âgés entre 6 mois-4 ans, 5-9 ans et 10-15 ans. Des liens sont établis entre la négligence et plusieurs autres facteurs connus pour leurs liens avec la problématique, dont les conduites parentales à caractère violent, le stress lié au tempérament perçu difficile de l’enfant et à la conciliation travail-famille, la consommation d’alcool et de drogues, les symptômes de dépression, la pauvreté, et le soutien social.

Les analyses factorielles exploratoires montrent la présence de diverses dimensions de la négligence concernant les besoins affectifs/cognitifs, physiques (soins de base) et de supervision des enfants. Bien que les dimensions soient étroitement associées aux facteurs de vulnérabilité psychosociale des enfants et des familles, les coefficients de cohérence interne sont faibles, variant entre 0,20 et 0,64.

Des recommandations sont émises pour améliorer la mesure dans la population générale, et notamment la dimension de supervision parentale qui pose des défis particuliers.

To examine variations between immigrants and nonimmigrants in 1) prevalence of common mental disorders and other mental health variables; 2) health service utilisation for emotional problems, mental disorders, and addictions, and 3) health service satisfaction.

This article is based on a longitudinal cohort study conducted from May 2007 to the present: the Epidemiological Catchment Area Study of Montreal South-West (ZEPSOM). Participants were followed up at 4 time points (T1, n = 2433; T4, n = 1095). Core exposure variables include immigrant status (immigrant vs. nonimmigrant), duration of residence, and region of origin. Key outcome variables included mental health status, health service utilisation, and health service satisfaction. Data were analysed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Immigrants had been in Canada for 20 years on average. Immigrants had significantly lower rates of high psychological distress (32.6% vs. 39.1%, P = 0.016), alcohol dependence (1.4% vs. 3.9%, P =0.010), depression (5.2% vs. 9.2%, P = 0.008), and various other mental disorders. They had significantly higher scores of mental well-being (48.9 vs. 47.1 score, P = 0.014) and satisfaction with social (34.0 vs. 33.4 score, P = 0.021) and personal relationships (16.7 vs. 15.6 score, P < 0.001). Immigrants had significantly lower rates of health service utilisation for emotional problems, mental disorders, and addictions and significantly higher rates of health service satisfaction at all time points. Asian and African immigrants had particularly low rates of utilisation and high rates of satisfaction.

Immigrants had better overall mental health than nonimmigrants.