his issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry includes

an In Review focus on psychiatric epidemiology by in-vited expert contributors. It also introduces the first in a series of articles that, over several months, will discuss the results of in-depth examination of the prevalence and incidence of men-tal disorders. One might puzzle over the value of such an epi-demiological extravaganza. On the surface, psychiatric epidemiology might appear to be little more than a hapless, yawn-inducing exercise in bean-counting. Yet, a gentle scratch over the numbers, rates, and proportions exposes abundant intriguing and illuminating in-sights into many of the most important questions facing psy-chiatry. Moreover, epidemiology is the basic science of public health (1). Applied to increase understanding of Canada’s psychiatric services, it may enhance the effectiveness of pre-ventive efforts and strengthen care delivery to people affecte