Objectives: To estimate lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS).Methods: The SNMHS is a face‐to‐face community epidemiological survey in a nationally representative household sample of citizens ages 15–65 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (n = 4,004). The World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to estimate lifetime prevalence of common DSM‐IV mental disorders.Results: Estimated lifetime prevalence of any DSM‐IV/CIDI disorder is 34.2% and lifetime morbid risk is 38.0%. Anxiety disorders are by far the most prevalent (23.2%) followed by disruptive behavior (11.2%), mood (9.3%), eating (6.1%), and substance use (4.0%) disorders. Synthetic estimates of cohort effects suggest that prevalence of many disorders has increased in recent cohorts. Onsets typically occur in childhood for a number of anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders and in adolescence or early adulthood for most other disorders, although age‐of‐onset distributions for drug abuse is much later (median age of 31) than in CIDI surveys carried out in other high‐income countries.Conclusions: Lifetime mental disorders are highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia and typically have early ages‐of‐onset.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with the number of years lived with disability globally,¹ affecting approximately 5% to 6% of people worldwide each year and 11% to 15% of people for a lifetime.^2,3 The high burden of MDD exists, in part, because many people do not receive effective care.^4,5 Many studies have defined potentially effective care for MDD using objective criteria, usually in terms of the number of professional visits and either the type of professional seen or the type of intervention received. However, patient-centered definitions can also help to identify needs that are not fully met by treatment and in turn can inform policy and service responses to address these needs.^6-8 Thus, a patient’s evaluation of the helpfulness of treatment is an important measure^9,10 that can be collected directly and efficiently^11,12 and, when assessed in population surveys, can help fill a knowledge gap about treatment outcomes at a population level.¹¹

Objectives: To present background information for the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS) on the Saudi mental healthcare delivery system and previous epidemiological research on the prevalence and treatment of mental disorders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).Methods: Archival information and the results of a literature review are presented.Results: KSA is the largest sovereign nation in the Middle East and the largest free market economy in the Middle East and North Africa. A national mental health policy has been in existence since 2006, but mental health spending still is less than in most other high‐income countries. The Ministry of Health has recently begun developing a new healthcare system based on a patient‐centered model of care that will integrate care of mental disorders with care of physical disorders. Previous epidemiological research on mental disorders in KSA has been limited, making the SNMHS important for policy planning purposes to obtain accurate estimates of prevalence, treatment, and barriers to treatment.Conclusions: The SNMHS will provide valuable information for policy planning purposes on the burden of untreated mental disorders in KSA and barriers to treatment.

Objectives: To estimate 12‐month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS).Methods: The SNMHS is a face‐to‐face community epidemiological survey in a nationally representative household sample of citizens aged 15 to 65 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (n = 4,004). The World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to estimate 12‐month prevalence of common DSM‐IV mental disorders.Results: Twelve‐month prevalence of any DSM‐IV/CIDI disorder is 20.2%. Most common are anxiety disorders (12.3%) followed by mood (6.8%), disruptive behavior (5.4%), eating (3.2%), and substance use (1.9%) disorders. The proportion of 12‐month cases rated serious (39.0% of all cases) is high across virtually all disorders relative to the proportions found in CIDI surveys in other high‐income countries. Younger people have significantly elevated odds of mood and disruptive behavior disorders and serious disorders. Women have significantly elevated odds of anxiety and mood disorders and serious disorders. Previously married people have significantly elevated odds of most disorder classes and serious disorders.Conclusions: Both 12‐month prevalence and severity of DSM‐IV/CIDI disorders are high in Saudi Arabia compared to other high‐income countries that carried out comparable surveys.

Previous global and regional studies indicate that adolescents and young adults (i.e., youth) are affected by various mental disorders with lifelong consequences. However, there are no national estimates of mental disorders prevalent among Saudi youth. Using data from the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS), we examined the lifetime prevalence, treatment, and socio-demographic correlates of mental disorders among Saudi youth (aged 15–30). A total of 4004 interviews were conducted using the adapted Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0). Cross tabulations and logistic regression were used to generate estimates for the SNMHS youth sample (n = 1881). The prevalence of a mental disorder among Saudi youth was 40.10%, where anxiety disorders affected 26.84% of the sample, followed by disruptive behavior disorders (15.44%), mood disorders (9.67%), substance use disorders (4%) and eating disorders (7.06%). Sex, education, parental education, income, marital status, region, and family history of disorders were significant correlates of various classes of mental disorders. Only 14.47% of Saudi youth with any mental disorder received treatment for a lifetime disorder. Age, parental education, and family history of disorders emerged as significant correlates of mental health treatment. Lifetime mental disorders are highly prevalent among Saudi youth. There is an unmet need for culturally sensitive and age-appropriate treatment of lifetime mental disorders among youth in Saudi Arabia.