title: [Prevalence of Mood Disorders in a university students population].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate (i) the incidence of psychiatric disorders and (ii) the frequency of Mood Disorders diagnoses in a sample of 115 university students afferent to Sportello Counseling-Accoglienza Studenti "Fatti vivo!" of "Sapienza" University of Rome, between November 2008 and December 2010; to point out correlations with socio-demographic variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prevalence of Mood Disorders was evaluated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis I Disorders Clinical Version (SCID-I cv), drawn up by the counselor at first meeting. Each student completed a data collection from which investigates socio-demographic characteristics. A descriptive analysis was conducted and the associations between variables and Axis I diagnoses were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall mean age is 24.7 years. A DSM IV-TR Axis I Disorder was diagnosed in 26.9%, of which 45.2% is constituted by Mood Disorders (mean age of 25.7 years). Male students, the highest family members' mean age and the lowest regular studies (64% pursue a course of regular studies) seem to be characteristics of the subgroup of students with Mood Disorders diagnoses compared to the subgroups with other Axis I Disorders diagnoses. Moreover, the same subgroup most frequently recognizes as pathological its condition (78.6%) compared to the subgroup with other Axis I Disorders diagnoses (53.3%). Those differences, however, aren't statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The discovered percentage of Axis I diagnoses in general and Mood Disorders in particular could be considered representative of perceived unease degree in a population of university students. At the same time, the difficulty in identifying the early signs of uneasiness and in recognizing as pathological own condition interferes with and delays the awareness of the need of a psychological/psychiatric support and the expression of the help-seek.
authors: Dipartimento di Neurologia e Psichiatria "Sapienza" Università di Roma, UOD Psicoterapia, Sportello Counseling-Accoglienza Studenti "Fatti vivo!" claudia_lia@hotmail.it
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Lia
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Gallo
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Frassanito
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Cavaggioni
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Lai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult