MENTAL HEALTH MORBIDITY IN A SUBURBAN COMMUNITY.

The article discusses mental health morbidity in a suburban community. It reports the prevalence of mental disorders in the population served by the agencies responsible for the public mental health sector of services in a rapidly growing suburban area. In the course of one week 1,516 individuals with mental or emotional disorders were reported. Analyses of the age by sex by type of disorder revealed differential morbidity rates among children and adults. Among children, males exceeded females but among adults the ratio was reversed. Married females were reported twice as frequently as married males. Psychoneurosis and personality disturbances were the two predominant disorders among adults whereas mental deficiency and personality disorders were predominant among children.