Psychological symptoms among an immigrant population: A prevalence study

A community survey evaluating the prevalence of psychological symptoms among 1,953 Russian immi-grants living in Israel was conducted. Symptoms of psychological distress were measured using a self-administered questionnaire, the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory (TBDI). Criterial thresholds for six symp-toms-obsessiveness, hostility, interpersonal sensitiv-ity, depression, anxiety, and paranoid ideationBwere established. Respondents with four or more psycho-logical symptoms met the criterion for psychological distress syndrome (PDS) with a likelihood greater than 73%. A total of 13 % of the respondents reported no psychological symptoms, and 21 % reported all six symptoms of distress in the last month. One-month prevalence figures for distress-free and distress