“Degrees of Freedom”: Comparing Mental Distress of Populations with Different Levels of Access to Care-Prisoners, Psychiatric Patients and General Population

Abstract

Objectives: The study presents an analysis of the risk for common mental disorders (CMDs) in populations with different levels of access to mental health care. Methods: We merged and statistically compared the representative data of prisoners to data collected from psychiatric clinics and the general population. Participants across all samples completed the General Health Questionnaire. Results: More than half of the inmates met the criteria for CMDs, while rates were 25% in the general population and 80% among psychiatric patients. The odds of prisoners being five times more likely to meet the criteria for CMDs were five times higher than the odds of the general population while controlling for demographic variables. Conclusions: The study highlights the need for prisoners for mental health services. Prisoners face stressful life conditions before and during incarceration while having limited access to medical and psychological treatment stresses the need for systemic interventions.

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“…In the current study, a score of 1 was assigned to “rather more” and “much more than usual”, and 0 to “not at all” and “no more than usual.” The final score was the sum of all items (range: 0 to 12), with higher scores indicating higher emotional distress. This instrument was previously used and validated for the assessment of mental distress among prisoners (McAloney, 2011; Nagar, 2022). Its reliability in the current study was adequate (Cronbach's α = .71).…”

“…Their ongoing travails in that environment test their mental resilience (Warr, 2016). Consequently, many inmates suffer from high levels of distress, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and anger (Liebling, 2007; Nagar, 2022).…”