Department
Mental Health and Suicide
The department is engaged in health analytics and research on mental health.
This includes psychological symptoms, interaction with the health service regarding mental health problems, the most common mental health conditions, and suicide.
The department has particular responsibility for health analytics and research on the health of immigrants.
Core tasks
- Psychological symptoms: The department regularly provides analyses of national, regional and local health surveys containing data on psychological symptoms and quality of life.
- Seeking help for mental health problems from the health service: The department analyses data from the specialist and primary health service in order to establish how different demographics (gender, age, geography and socio-economic background) seek help for mental health problems from the health service.
- Improved basic data on mental health and substance use: There is a need to improve basic data on mental health and substance use. The department is engaged in an analytical project on registry data concerning mental health and substance use (PsyRus) as well as a pilot project on diagnosis-based examination of mental health issues and substance-related disorders.
- Mental health: The department is involved in a number of projects on social inequalities and mental health. This work usually draws on registries and health studies such as the Study of Health and Living Conditions and the HUNT Study. The department is also involved in research into the impact of flu infection in the mother during pregnancy on the child’s subsequent mental health.
- Suicide: The department approaches this topic from a public health perspective, and it conducts both quantitative and qualitative research projects. The quantitative projects rely mainly on registry data. The qualitative data is obtained from the next of kin following a suicide. The department is also engaged in validating suicide statistics.
- Immigrant health: The department is responsible for co-ordinating immigrant health projects within the Division for Mental and Physical Health. Our health analyses and research into immigrant health look primarily at how immigrants interact with the health service in relation to mental and physical health issues and at suicide amongst the immigrant population.
- Health economics: The department is involved in studies aiming to improve health economics methodology.
International collaboration:
The department assists the Arctic Council with projects on suicide amongst indigenous peoples. It is also part of an international research network looking at patient contact with the health service prior to a suicide.
