Key considerations for the future of mental health epidemiology

Abstract

Abstract Psychiatric epidemiology has led to substantial progress in our understanding of the causes of mental health disorders. The increasing sophistication of etiologic psychiatric research has been accompanied by a greater focus on the biological and genetic causes of psychiatric disorders, to some extent diverging from field’s early focus on the burden of poor mental health due to a breadth of social and economic conditions. We argue that the moment is ripe for advancing a mental health epidemiology that can reconnect the field to these earlier—and still central—concerns while retaining the strengths of psychiatric epidemiology. Embracing 5 considerations can help advance the evolving field of mental health epidemiology. First, conceptually, an ambitious vision for the future of the field necessitates investment in refining our definitions and methodologies. Second, there is a need for a renewed focus on the macrosocial determinants of mental health. Third, a deeper engagement with mental health inequities should be central to our scholarship. Fourth, the field would benefit from a more deliberate assessment of the mechanisms leading to adverse mental health outcomes, which can then be used to inform novel interventions. Finally, realizing this future is contingent upon a wholesale commitment to studying population mental health globally. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.