Socio-Economic Status and Mental Disorder— Profile of a Nigerian Psychiatric Inpatient Population

Abstract

A study of the socio-economic and diagnostic profile of psychiatric patients treated at a mental hospital in Nigeria over a period of six months was conducted. Schizophrenia, organic psychosis, and mental sub-normality were found to have been diagnosed more often among under privileged persons from lower socio-economic classes; while affective disorder (manic depression) and neurotic illness were commoner among persons from economically more fortunate higher social classes. Males-exceeded females in the cohort and the patients generally exhibited upward social mobility when compared with their parents. Possible socio-cultural factors contributing to the findings have been discussed. A suggestion is made for a more elaborate field work to study the relationship between socio-economic class and psychopathology in a developing country like Nigeria.