attempted suicide. Television and radio broadcasts on the risks of alcohol or other forms of substance abuse are far more frequent.

Prevalence of mental health disorders

 

Consistent data on mental health problems was not published before the 1970s. Currently, statistics on mental health disorders are collected and published in the Statistical Yearbook by the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology.³ Psychiatric care facilities and alcohol and drug treatment units provide data on the number and type of first admissions and patients in treatment. The data in the table below pertains to people with a variety of mental health disorders treated in inpatient or outpatient facilities between 1980 and 1997 (rates denote the number of patients treated per 100 000 inhabitants).

*Since 1997 the new ICD-10 classification has been in force, thus data from 1997 cannot be directly compared to data from previous years.

Source: Zaklady Psychiatrycznej oraz neurologicznej opieki zdrowotnej. Rocznik statystyczny (Psychiatric and neurological care institutions. Statistical Yearbook). Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii, Warszawa 1980-1998

**For the purpose of this document the term "affective disorders" refers to all depressive disorders.

The comparisons reveal a growing number of people receiving psychiatric care in outpatient facilities and a growing number of people treated for depressive disorders. In 1997, if new criteria for diagnosing depression are taken into account, the number of patients treated for depressive disorders is higher than the number of patients treated for schizophrenia. The table below provides a more detailed characterisation of individuals treated for depressive disorders in 1997.

Source: Zaklady Psychiatrycznej oraz neurologicznej opieki zdrowotnej. Rocznik statystyczny 1997 (Psychiatric and neurological care institutions. Statistical Yearbook). Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii, Warszawa 1998