Alcohol-related mental illness increases

The number of people with alcohol-induced psychiatric disorders is growing, particularly in men in their 60s.

According to the National Health Insurance Corporation, the number of patients with mental illnesses brought on by excessive drinking has increased from 66,196 in 2007 to 78,357 in 2011 on the annual average of 4.3 percent.

Men in their 60s had the highest prevalence rate of alcoholic mental disease with 583 per 100,000 people.

About 64,000 men suffered from psychiatric disorder due to excessive drinking last year, 4.4 times as many as the figure for women.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)