Prevalences of Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Depressive Disorders in Community between Taiwan and Other Countries

This overview was intended to re-analyze and compare the findings from the Taiwan Psychiatric Epidemiological Project (TPEP) with those from the other studies conducted in 11 sites with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, In 1980s, all these studies used criteria from American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder; Third Edition (DSM- III). Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) in their case identification tool and the identical sampling methods. Taiwan, Hong Kong and a part of Shanghai, China, had significantly lower lifetime prevalence rates (LPRs) for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depressive disorders than South Korea and all countries with non-Eastern cultural backgrounds. Although more genetic and biological studies are needed to explain the lower prevalences of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, we speculate that the cultural and family systems in Taiwan provide protecting effects on those two disorders.