<unk>  is a field which studies the causes (etiology) of mental disorders in society, as well as conceptualization and prevalence of mental illness. It is a subfield of the more general<unk> . It has roots in sociological studies of the early 20th century. However, while sociological exposures are still widely studied in<unk> , the field has since expanded to the study of a wide area of environmental risk factors, such as major life events, as well as genetic exposures. Increasingly neuroscientific techniques like MRI are used to explore the mechanisms behind how exposures to risk factors may impact psychological problems and explore the neuroanatomical substrate underlying<unk>  disorders. Reviews on<unk>  as a main subject were published by Tohen et. al in 2006, Kessler in 2007, and Juul & Nemeroff in 2012.
Psychiatric epidemiology
Cognitive epidemiology
Forensic epidemiology
Nutritional epidemiology
Environmental epidemiology
Public health surveillance
Computational epidemiology
Spatial epidemiology