The National Comorbidity Survey: Preliminary results and future directions

Presents an overview of the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), highlighting important methodological issues that went into designing the survey, and preliminary findings concerning the prevalence of comorbidity among a number of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-Revised (DSM-III-R) psychiatric disorders. The NCS surveyed persons aged 15–54 yrs. 8,098 Ss, from 34 states throughout the US, participated in the survey from Sept. 1990 to Feb. 1992. The results revealed that a majority of lifetime disorders are positively related, and comorbidity is associated with severity and chronicity. Subtypes of comorbidity are documented, and implications for future research are discussed. (July 1995)