Viviane Kovess

Paris Descartes University · Department of Psychology

Background: It is difficult to quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health as many community surveys have limited quality, rely on screening tests to measure mental health conditions and distress, and often use convenience samples. Moreover, robust surveys come mainly from high-income countries. Aim: To measure the prevalence of d...

Purpose The present study seeks to examine gender differences in internalizing and externalizing problems either parent/ teacher or self-reported and to investigate the influence of country-level gender gap on children’s mental health problems across countries with high and low gender gap across Europe. Methods The School Children’s Mental Health i...

Aims Epidemiological studies indicate that individuals with one type of mental disorder have an increased risk of subsequently developing other types of mental disorders. This study aimed to undertake a comprehensive analysis of pair-wise lifetime comorbidity across a range of common mental disorders based on a diverse range of population-based sur...

Background The School Children Mental Health Europe was a EU funded project designed to set up a kit of instruments enabling cross EU comparisons. Methods A literature review allows to select the SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire) to be administered to the parents and teachers after a validation process in each country and the Dominic...

“Toward a Better Living with Schizophrenia” is a French three-year research program that focuses on themes that aims to improve the every day well-being of people with schizophrenic psychoses by providing new insights on their integration: -The announcement of the diagnosis to the person herself and/or to the close ones:the positive consequences of...

Lay caregivers in psychiatry and social policy The role of lay caregivers in mental health has increased significantly as a result of deinstitutionalization, with patients’ families and loved ones being assigned a role, now considered to be of central importance, as so-called “natural” caregivers. Despite a number of social benefits, first for the...

Purpose To evaluate the associations between the presence of a grand parent at home that is three-generation household, with children mental health in diverse countries whether this situation is frequent or not. Methods Data from the School Children Mental Health in Europe cross-sectional survey in six countries (n = 4582) were used to examine the...

Although earlier trauma exposure is known to predict posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after subsequent traumas, it is unclear whether this association is limited to cases where the earlier trauma led to PTSD. Resolution of this uncertainty has important implications for research on pretrauma vulnerability to PTSD. We examined this issue in the...

Résumé Objectifs Le rétablissement, ou recovery, décrit un processus qui permet aux personnes souffrant de troubles psychiques de vivre dignement avec leur maladie, sans égard à la sévérité ou persistence éventuelle des symptômes de celle-ci, et de retrouver une place de citoyen à part entière dans la société. Dans le droit de fil de ce concept, l...

Objectives: Religiosity is often associated with better health outcomes. The aim of the study was to examine associations between psychotic experiences (PEs) and religiosity in a large, cross-national sample. Methods: A total of 25 542 adult respondents across 18 countries from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys were assessed for PEs, religious...

Aims A substantial proportion of persons with mental disorders seek treatment from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professionals. However, data on how CAM contacts vary across countries, mental disorders and their severity, and health care settings is largely lacking. The aim was therefore to investigate the prevalence of contacts with...

Background The treatment gap between the number of people with mental disorders and the number treated represents a major public health challenge. We examine this gap by socio-economic status (SES; indicated by family income and respondent education) and service sector in a cross-national analysis of community epidemiological survey data. Methods...

Background: Most studies on substance use, psychological distress, quality of life (QoL), and life events among gamblers are carried out on pathological gamblers seeking treatment, and sex differences are rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to explore the potential male-female differences in the relationship between these variables in a...

Many studies carried out on treatment-seeking problem gamblers (PG) have reported high levels of comorbid substance use disorders, and mental and physical health problems. Nevertheless, general population studies are still sparse, most of them have been carried out in the United States or Canada, and gender differences have not always been consider...

Objective: While psychotic experiences (PEs) are known to be associated with a range of mental and general medical disorders, little is known about the association between PEs and measures of disability. We aimed to investigate this question using the World Mental Health surveys. Method: Lifetime occurrences of six types of PEs were assessed alo...

Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys – CORRIGENDUM - R. P. Auerbach, J. Alonso, W. G. Axinn, P. Cuijpers, D. D. Ebert, J. G. Green, I. Hwang, R. C. Kessler, H. Liu, P. Mortier, M. K. Nock, S. Pinder-Amaker, N. A. Sampson, S. Aguilar-Gaxiola, A. Al-Hamzawi, L. H. Andrade, C. Benjet, J....

Background In France, negative views on schizophrenia are pervasive, even among health professionals. Prior research suggests that the level of prejudice is lower when the illness is described with the example of a specific individual. This finding highlights the importance of designing local, targeted destigmatization campaigns. The present study...

This chapter begins with a definition of risk in epidemiology, which is then illustrated by two examples: the case of formaldehyde and the case of nuclear risks, both contrasting individual and collective risks. Individual versus population risks are presented as an emblematic risk/benefit evaluation. The section further discusses the societal issu...

Objectives: To examine the role of religious advisors in mental health care (MHC) according to disorder severity, socio-demographics, religious involvement and country income groups. Methods: Face to face household surveys in ten high income (HI), six upper-middle income (UMI) and five low/lower-middle (LLMI) income countries totalling 101,258 a...

Background Although there is robust evidence linking childhood adversities (CAs) and an increased risk for psychotic experiences (PEs), little is known about whether these associations vary across the life-course and whether mental disorders that emerge prior to PEs explain these associations. Method We assessed CAs, PEs and DSM-IV mental disorder...

Background: Studies show that the Internet has become an influential source of information for people experiencing serious psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia spectrum disorders or other psychotic disorders, among which the rate of Internet users is growing, with rates ranging from 33.3% to 79.5% given the country. Between 20.5% and 56.4%...

Objective: To describe the distribution of role limitation in the European population aged 18-64 years and to examine the contribution of health conditions to role limitation using a public-health approach. Methods: Representative samples of the adult general population (n=13,666) aged 18-64 years from 10 European countries of the World Mental H...

Background: We compare the mental health status of children who reside in Lithuania with parents who are either Lithuanian nationals or non-Lithuanian nationals. Method: Data were drawn from the School Child Mental Health Europe survey (SCMHE), a cross-sectional survey of school children aged 6-11years. A total of 1152 Lithuanian children partic...

Résumé Le bien-fondé de l’annonce du diagnostic de schizophrénie a longtemps fait débat. Cependant, depuis l’aube des années 2000, différentes évolutions du contexte social et législatif, doublées de changements majeurs dans les pratiques d’accès à l’information – notamment grâce au développement d’Internet – ont semblé devoir militer pour une anno...

Background: The present study aims to estimate childhood overweight and obesity prevalence and their association with individual and population-level correlates in Eastern and Western European countries. Methods: Data were obtained from the School Children Mental Health in Europe, a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 in Italy, Germany, the Ne...

Large-scale international surveys are important to globally evaluate, monitor, and promote children’s mental health. However, use of young children’s self-reports in these studies is still controversial. The Dominic Interactive, a computerized DSM-IV–based child mental health self-report questionnaire, has unique characteristics that may make it pr...

The present study aims to estimate childhood overweight and obesity prevalence and their association with individual and population-level correlates in Eastern and Western European countries. Data were obtained from the School Children Mental Health in Europe, a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, B...

Little is known regarding the recognition of anxiety in children and young people (CYP) in primary care. This study examined trends in the presentation, recognition and recording of anxiety and of anxiolytic and hypnotic prescriptions for CYP in primary care. A population-based retrospective electronic cohort of individuals aged 6-18 years between...

Background : The School Children Mental Health in Europe (SCMHE) project aims to build up a set of indicators to collect and monitor children's mental health in an efficient and comparable methodology across the EU countries. It concerns primary schools children aged 6 to 11 years a range where few data are available whereas school interventions ar...

Introduction. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of suicidal ideation and thoughts of death in elementary school children in a European survey and to determine the associated socio-demographic and clinical factors. Methods. Data refer to children aged 6-12 (N=7,062) from Italy, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Germany, and the...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the patterns of psychotropic drug use in a large representative population of children and adolescents drawn from the French National Health Insurance databank. Methods: Data were drawn from a sample of 1% of the beneficiaries of the French national health insurance, selecting those 0-17 years...

In utero exposure to tobacco smoke is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes; the association with later childhood mental health outcomes remains controversial. We used a strategy involving comparison of maternal and paternal smoking reports in a sample pooling data from six diverse European countries. Data were drawn from mother (N = 4,517) and...

Background The Roma population, one of the largest minority groups in Europe, experience discrimination and stigma associated with marginalized social position. Few studies have examined mental illnesses in the Roma, and none have examined the Roma children. The present study estimates mental health and behavioral disorders among Roma children in c...

Introduction Mood disorders are associated with suicide and suicide ideation among adolescents. Few data are available on externalizing disorders as a determinant in children. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of suicidal ideation in primary school children and the associated psychopathological diagnosis in a European survey. Metho...

Le fardeau lié aux problèmes de santé, troubles mentaux inclus, a été peu étudié en France. Aussi avons-nous analysé les données françaises résultant de l’enquête sur la santé mentale dans le monde (World Mental Health [WMH]) mise en place par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), en nous intéressant aux journées d’activité perdues liées à des...

Several studies support currently the hypothesis that autism etiology is based on a polygenic and epistatic model. However, despite advances in epidemiological, molecular and clinical genetics, the genetic risk factors remain difficult to identify, with the exception of a few chromosomal disorders and several single gene disorders associated with a...

Objective: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for schoolchildren. We assessed the association between externalizing psychopathology, parenting style, and unintentional injury in European children in the community. Methods: Data were drawn from the School Children Mental Health in Europe project and included 4517 schoolchildren ac...

The burden of health problems, including mental disorders, can be assessed in several ways such as through healthcare costs or loss of productivity. Their impact on daily activities as a whole has received much less attention, especially in France. Therefore, we undertook the analysis of the French general population data from the World Mental Heal...

Psychological distress (PD) in students is under-investigated, since its prevalence can be high in certain subgroups of students and it has been seen to be associated with other mental health issues and academic achievement. In a sample of French college students, this study investigated factors associated with PD, and looked more closely at the im...

Women are more likely than men to use mental healthcare (MHC) due to differences in the types of problems and help-seeking behaviours. The consistency of this relationship across European countries, whose MHC organisation differs substantially, is unknown. Lifetime MHC-use and the type of MHC provider were assessed in 37 289 participants from the E...

Stress, suicide au travail, harcèlement, mal-être, épuisement professionnel… Les mots pour dire les maux du travail ont envahi le discours médiatique et politique, mais aussi la vie quotidienne des organisations publiques et privées. Pourtant, derrière chacun de ces mots d’allure parfois simple se cachent des partis pris théoriques qui gênent la bo...

Title: How big are differences in children’s mental health for primary schools? Keywords: Primary schools, mental health, multiple informants, monitoring, self reports, school differences Presenting Author: Goelitz, Dietmar Authors: Goelitz, Dietmar (1); Fermanian, Christophe (2); Paulus, Peter (1); Pez, Ondine (2); Schurig, Michael (3); Kovess...

Severe mental disorders have a chronic course associated with a high risk for co-morbid somatic illnesses and premature mortality and oral health is critical for overall systemic health. But general health care needs in this population are often neglected. Some studies have aimed at determining the oral health status of psychiatric in-patients but...

Although hoarding symptoms have been traditionally conceptualized as part of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), recent data suggest that they may be more closely related to attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and, in particular, inattention. The aim of the present epidemiological study was to investigate the association between retros...

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of the Mental Component of the Short-Form 12 Health Survey, Version 1(SF-12v1), as a screening measure of depressive disorders. Methods: Data come from the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD), a cross-sectional survey carried out on representative samples of 21,425 individuals f...

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to estimate the rate of subjects who tested positive at a screening for bipolar disorders among the people insured by a French Health Company, and subsequently to measure treatment patterns. METHODS: Cross-sectional postal survey on the "Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale" (MGEN) policyholders. A self-rated q...

Background: Health expectancies, taking into account both quality and quantity of life, have generally been based on disability and physical functioning. Aims: To compare mental health expectancies at age 25 and 55 based on common mental disorders both across countries and between males and females. Method: Mental health expectancies were calc...

To ascertain patterns of parental smoking in the vicinity of children in Eastern and Western Europe and their relation to Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) scores. Data on parental smoking patterns were obtained from the School Child Mental Health Europe (SCMHE), a 2010 cross-sectional survey of 5141 school children aged 6 to 11 years and their parents i...

Introduction: Suicidal thoughts are thought to increase a child's risk of suicide As child with suicidal thoughts may not directly talk about her thoughts, this research aimed to investigate in 7 European countries suicidal thoughts of children through a diagnostic video tool. Methods: Data were drawn from school children aged 6- 11 (N=8,100), in...

Suicide is a public health problem worldwide. The objective of this study is to analyse the prevalence and risk factors of suicide related outcomes (ideation, plan and attempt) using data from the ESEMeD-France project. This is a face-to-face household survey carried out in a probability representative sample of the adult general population of Fran...

Purpose: The objective of the present study was to provide updated data from nine European countries about the impact of social inequalities in the prevalence of common mental disorders. Methods: Cross-sectional household survey of a representative sample of the adult general population of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Nort...

The methodology commonly used to estimate disease burden, featuring ratings of severity of individual conditions, has been criticized for ignoring co-morbidity. A methodology that addresses this problem is proposed and illustrated here with data from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Although the analysis is based on self-r...

Objective: This study analyzed use of services from psychiatrists and other mental health professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and social workers) in six European countries. Methods: Data were from respondents (N=8,796) to the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD), a cross-sectional survey (2001-2003...

BACKGROUND: Little is known about attitudes to seeking help from mental health care professionals. AIM: To investigate these attitudes and their correlates, and find out whether these attitudes are associated with the use of care services. METHOD: Data were derived from the European Study of Epidemiology of Mental Disorders, a survey that is repres...

Panic attacks are heterogeneous with regards to symptom profile. Subtypes of panic attacks have been proposed, of which the most investigated is respiratory panic attacks (RPA). Limited information exists about RPA in the general population. The prevalence and correlates of RPA and non-respiratory panic attacks (NRPA) were examined in a subsample (...

Due to demographic change, the advanced elderly represent the fastest growing population group in Europe. Health problems tend to be frequent and increasing with age within this cohort. To describe and compare health status of the elderly population in six European countries and to analyze the impact of socio-demographic variables on health. In the...

Days out of role because of health problems are a major source of lost human capital. We examined the relative importance of commonly occurring physical and mental disorders in accounting for days out of role in 24 countries that participated in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. Face-to-face interviews were carr...

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, but the precise effect of childhood adversities as risk factors for the onset and persistence of suicidal behaviour (suicide ideation, plans and attempts) are not well understood. To examine the associations between childhood adversities as risk factors for the onset and persistence of suicidal behavio...

To investigate the association of a range of temporally prior physical conditions with the subsequent first onset of suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts in large, general population, cross-national sample. The associations between physical conditions and suicidal behavior remain unclear due to sparse data and varied methodology. Predictive assoc...

Although depression appears to decrease in late life, this could be due to misattribution of depressive symptoms to physical disorders that increase in late life. We investigated this issue by studying age differences in co-morbidity of DSM-IV major depressive episodes (MDE) with chronic physical conditions in the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surv...

Dropping out from mental health treatment is a major problem because mental health treatments delivered for inadequate durations are ineffective. The aim of this study was to compare treatment dropout rates by type of provider, dropout risk by number of visit, and to ascertain factors associated with treatment dropout. A cross-sectional household s...

Although many studies have indicated that psychosocial factors contribute to hypertension, and that early childhood adversity is associated with long-term adverse mental and physical health sequelae, the association between early adversity and later hypertension is not well studied. Data from 10 countries participating in the World Health Organizat...

Neuropsychiatric disorders are leading causes of disability worldwide, accounting for 37 % of all healthy life years lost from disease (Lopez et al., 2006). They are among the most disabling conditions even in low-income countries, where detection of emotional problems and access to treatment are lowest. Although efficacious and tolerable treatment...