Mental Health Matters

The following statistics are excerpted from a release issued by the National Mental Health Association in December, 1999.

Mental Health Matters – To the Public:

One in every five people, or about 53 million Americans, experiences some type of mental disorder each year (National Institute of Mental Health, 1998).
More than 19 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders. (NIMH, 1998).
Clinical depression affects more than 19 million Americans each year (NIMH, 1998).
Late-life depression affects about six million adults, but only 10 percent receive treatment (Brown University Long Term Care Quarterly, 1997).
Depression will be the second greatest cause of premature death and disability worldwide by the year 2020 (World Health Organization, 1998).

Mental Health Matters – To Kids and Families:

One in every five children and adolescents has a mental health problem that can be identified and treated. Only one-third of children with mental disorders receive treatment (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1997).
Suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S. It is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds and the sixth for five-15 year olds. The incidence of suicide among 15-24 year olds has tripled since 1960 (Centers for Disease Control, 1997; American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1995).
As many as one in 33 children and one in eight adolescents have clinical depression (Center for Mental Health Services, 1996).
Each year, more than one million youth come in contact with the juvenile justice system, and more than 100,000 youths are placed in some type of correctional facility. (Coccozza, J. (Ed.) Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, 1992).

Mental Health Matters – To Business:

Depression ranks among the top three workplace problems, following only family crisis and stress (Employee Assistance Professionals Association survey, 1996).
The combined indirect and related costs of mental illnesses, including costs of lost productivity, lost earnings, and societal costs, are estimated to total $148 billion (National Institute of Mental Health, 1999).
Clinical depression alone costs the U.S. $43.7 billion annually, including workplace costs for absenteeism and lost productivity ($23.8 billion), direct costs for treatment and rehabilitation ($12.4 billion) and loss of expected lifetime earnings due to depression-induced suicides ($7.5 billion) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993).
Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. $46.8 billion in 1990 in direct and indirect costs, nearly one-third of the nation’s total mental health bill (NIMH, 1998).
The cost of alcohol and illicit drug use in the workplace, including lost productivity, medical claims, and accidents, amounts to $140 billion per year (National Drug Addiction Recovery Month Kit, 1998).

Mental Health Matters – To Healthcare:

As many as half of all visits to primary care physicians are due to conditions caused or exacerbated by mental health or emotional problems (Collaborative Family Healthcare Coalition, 1998).
People with depression are more than four times as likely to have a heart attack than those without a history of the illness (National Institute of Mental Health, 1998).
Almost 21 percent of hospital beds are filled by people with mental illnesses (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1995).
The treatment success rate for schizophrenia is 60 percent, 80 percent for bipolar disorders, and 65 percent for major depression, whereas the treatment success rate for heart disease ranges from only 41 to 52 percent (SAMHSA, 1995).