title: [Mental health in software engineers. I. Frequency of mental complaints, physical complaints and psychiatric disorders].
abstract: This study examined the physical complaints, mental complaints and psychiatric disorders in software engineers. Subjects were 101 male software engineers. They were evaluated by a semistructured interview. Psychiatric diagnosis was based on DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition). The results are summarized as follows: 1) Physical complaints were observed in 68% of the subjects with 25% of the subjects complaining of physical ill-health. This study showed that 12% of the subjects had hypertension, 12%, gastritis or gastro-duodenal ulcer, 14%, allergic disease, and 19% miscellaneous diseases. 2) Of the subjects 62% had mental complaints and 31% mental ill-health. Depressive symptom was the most frequent mental complaint with 32% of the subjects diagnosed as DSM-III. The common diagnoses were adjustment disorders (19%), major affective disorders (6%), psychological factors affecting physical condition (5%) and dysthymic disorder (3%). Only one subject sought professional help from a psychiatrist for relief of mental complaints. The data suggest the severity of mental ill health in software engineers, but methodological limitations preclude a firm conclusion at this time. Further studies should be made on the mental health state in software engineers.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Institute for Mental Health, Japan Productivity Center.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoji
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008603:Mental Health; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012984:Software