Investigation of medical board reports of disability due to mental health problems

Purpose: This study aims to identify the demographic and clinical data of patients presenting for mental health disability reports from these boards. Material and Methods: In this study, the records of the patients presenting to the medical board for disability due to mental health problems in 2014 were retrospectively investigated. Results: Among the 5670 patients over 18 years who presented to the medical board for disability, 795 (14.2%) of them were assigned a report due to mental health problems. Four hundred ninety one (61.8%) of them were male, and 304 (38.2%) were female. The most frequent reasons for presentation were for benefits related to law number 2022 (35.8%), and for social benefits / home care services (32.8%). The most frequently encountered diagnoses were mental retardation (52.2%), schizophrenia (18.4%), and depression - dysthymia (7.1%). Three hundred thirteen (39.4%) of the 795 patients with mental health problems were found to be severely disabled, and 510 (64.2%) of the reports were assigned for an indefinite period of time. Conclusion: We think that this report might be helpful for regulations related to disabled people, and might guide adult psychiatric services for patients who present to medical boards for disability due to mental health problems.