GENERAL PUBLIC
- More than 54 million Americans have a mental disorder in any given
year, although fewer than 8 million seek treatment (SGRMH, 1999).
- Depression and anxiety disorders — the two most common mental illnesses
— each affect 19 million American adults annually (NIMH, 1999).
- Approximately 12 million women in the United States experience
depression every year — roughly twice the rate of men (NIMH, 1999).
- One percent of the population (more than 2.5 million Americans)
has schizophrenia (Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1998).
- Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, affects
more than 2 million Americans (NIMH, 2000).
- Each year, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia
nervosa affect millions of Americans, 85-90 percent of whom are teens
and young adult women (NMHA, 2000).
- Depression greatly increases the risk of developing heart disease.
People with depression are four times more likely to have a heart
attack than those with no history of depression (NIMH, 1998).
- Approximately 15 percent of all adults who have a mental illness
in any given year also experience a co-occurring substance abuse disorder,
which complicates treatment (SGRMH, 1999).
- Up to one-half of all visits to primary care physicians are due
to conditions that are caused or exacerbated by mental or emotional
problems (CFHC, 1998).
MINORITIES
- Adults Caucasians who have either depression or an anxiety disorder
are more likely to receive treatment than adult African Americans
with the same disorders even though the disorders occur in both groups
at about the same rate, taking into account socioeconomic factors
(SGRMH, 1999).
- The rate of illicit drug use is 10.6 percent among Native Americans,
7.7 percent among African Americans, 6.8 percent among Hispanics (all
races), 6.6 percent among Caucasians, and 3.2 percent among Asian
Americans (SAMHSA, 1999)
- About twice as many African Americans went without health insurance
in 1998 and 1999 than did Caucasians (USCB, 1999).
- More than half of all African-Americans and Native Americans are
anticipated to use public insurance to pay for inpatient mental health
treatment, compared to 34 percent of Caucasians (SAMHSA, 1998).
- Misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment often occurs in minority
communities. Factors that can contribute include a general mistrust
of medical health professionals, cultural barriers, co-occurring disorders,
socioeconomic factors, and primary reliance on family and the religious
community during times of distress (NMHA, 2000).
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
- One in five children have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral
disorder. And up to one in 10 may suffer from a serious emotional
disturbance. Seventy percent of children, however, do not receive
mental health services (SGRMH, 1999).
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common
mental disorders in children, affecting 3 to 5 percent of school-age
children (NIMH, 1999).
- As many as one in every 33 children and one in eight adolescents
may have depression (CMHS, 1998).
- Once a child experiences an episode of depression, he or she is
at risk of having another episode within the next five years (CMHS,
1998).
- Teenage girls are more likely to develop depression than teenage
boys (NIMH, 2000).
- Children and teens who have a chronic illness, endure abuse or
neglect, or experience other trauma have an increased risk of depression
(NIMH, 2000).
- Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds
and the sixth leading cause of death for 5- to 14-year-olds. The
number of attempted suicides is even higher (AACAP, 1997).
- Studies have confirmed the short-term efficacy and safety of treatments
for depression in youth (NIMH, 2000).
- Alcohol, marijuana, inhalants and club drugs are the most frequently
used drugs among middle- and high-school youth (SAMHSA, 2000)
- Research has shown that use of club drugs such as Ecstasy and GHB
can cause serious health problems and, in some cases, death. Used
in combination with alcohol, these drugs pose even more danger (NIDA,
1999).
- Children and adolescents increasingly believe that regular alcohol
and drug use is not dangerous (SAMHSA, 2000).
- Among middle- and high-school students, less than 20 percent of
young people between the ages of 12 and 17 report using alcohol in
the previous month, and less than 4 percent report drinking heavily
in the previous month (SAMHSA, 2000).
- Young people are beginning to drink at younger ages. This is troubling
particularly because young people who begin drinking or using drugs
before age 15 are four times more likely to become addicted than those
who begin at age 21 (SAMHSA, 2000).
- Children of alcohol- and drug-addicted parents are up to four times
more likely to develop substance abuse and mental health problems
than other children. (NACOA, 1998)
- Twenty percent of youths in juvenile justice facilities have a
serious emotional disturbance and most have a diagnosable mental disorder.
Up to an additional 30 percent of youth in these facilities have substance
abuse disorders or co-occurring substance abuse disorders (OJJDP,
2000).
OLDER ADULTS
- Late-life depression affects about 6 million adults, but only 10
percent ever receive treatment (NMHA, 1998).
- Older Americans are more likely to commit suicide than any other
age group. Although they constitute only 13 percent of the U.S. population,
individuals age 65 and older account for 20 percent of all suicides
(NIMH, 2000).
- At least 10 to 20 percent of widows and widowers develop clinically
significant depression within one year of their spouse’s death (SGRMH,
1999).
- Among adults age 55 and older, 11.4 percent meet the criteria for
having an anxiety disorder (SGRMH, 1999).
- Alcohol abuse and dependence is four times as prevalent among men
over the age of 65 than among women in the same age group (SGRMH,
1999).
Key to Abbreviations
AACAP = American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry
CMHS = Center for Mental Health Services
CFHC = Collaborative Family Healthcare Coalition
NACOA = National Association for Children of Alcoholics
NIMH = National Institute of Mental Health
OJJDP = Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
SAMHSA = Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
SGRMH = Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health
USCB = U.S. Census Bureau
USCCYF = U.S. Select Committee on Children, Youth and
Families
For further information on these statistics, contact:
Mental
Health Resource Center at 800/969-NMHA
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