Prevalence, Type and Frequency of Psychotic Experiences in Thailand: Results from the 2013 Thai National Mental Health Survey
Poster C4, Saturday, October 22, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Suttha Supanya1,2, The Thai Mental Health Survey Working Group2, Craig Morgan1, Ulrich Reininghaus1; 1Society and Mental Health Research Group, Department of Health Service and Population Research, institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 2Bureau of Mental Health Service Administration, Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health, Royal Thai Government
Purpose: Psychotic experiences are common in general population and are possible indicators of psychological distress associated with psychopathologies, suicidality and especially schizophrenia. Emerging epidemiological data from low- and middle-income countries may help elucidate the importance of these associations. Methods: The Thai National Mental Health Survey 2013 (TNMHS2013) is a cross-sectional survey using the World Health Organization’s Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WHO-CIDI) version 3.0. This includes a psychosis screening section (PS) to assess psychotic experiences. Results: In all, 4727 respondents completed the interview. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of any psychotic experiences were 5.9% and 1.4%, 5.5% and 1.3% for any hallucinatory experiences, and 0.9% and 0.2% for any delusional experiences, respectively. Respondents endorsing any psychotic experience reported an almost equal prevalence of visual (54.7%) and auditory hallucinations (54.4%). In contrast, fewer respondents endorsed delusional experiences, with the two most common being plot-to-harm (8.0%) and ideas of reference (7.3%). Of those reporting at least one psychotic experience, 29.7% reported having psychotic experience once, 14.1% twice, 11.9% thrice, 7.4% four times, 7.1% five times and only 4.5% reported having more than that over their lifetime. Conclusion: The prevalence ascertained is consistent with those previously reported and within the range of the pooled prevalence of the meta-analysis we have just conducted. Findings on differences in type and frequency of experiences may point to differences in later psychopathologies that warrant further investigation.
Topic Area: Epidemiology