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Health/Medical Title: 1 in 5 Americans Experienced a Mental Illness in Past Year 1 in 5 Americans Experienced a Mental Illness in Past Year By Janice Wood Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 21, 2012 A new report reveals that nearly 46 million American adults aged 18 or older experienced mental illness in the past year. This is roughly 20 percent of the adult population in the United States. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health also shows that the rate of mental illness was more than twice as high among those aged 18 to 25 (30 percent) than among those aged 50 and older (14 percent). Adult women were also more likely than men to have experienced mental illness in the past year (23 percent versus 17 percent). Mental illness among adults is defined as having had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder (excluding developmental and substance use disorders) in the past year, based on criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The SAMHSA survey also shows that 11.4 million adults (5 percent) suffered from serious mental illness in the past year. Serious mental illness is defined as one that resulted in “serious functional impairment, which substantially interfered with or limited one or more major life activities,” according to officials with the agency. The economic impact of mental illness in the United States is considerable — about $300 billion in 2002, SAMHSA officials report. According to the World Health Organization, mental illness accounts for more disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. The report indicates that about four in 10 people experiencing mental illness in the past year (39 percent) received mental health services during that period. Among those experiencing serious mental illness, the rate of treatment was notably higher (61 percent). “Mental illnesses can be managed successfully, and people do recover,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. “Mental illness is not an isolated public health problem. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity often co-exist with mental illness and treatment of the mental illness can reduce the effects of these disorders.” The report also noted that an estimated 8.7 million American adults had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, including 2.5 million who made suicide plans and 1.1 million who attempted suicide. According to the report, rates for substance dependence were far higher for those who experienced mental illness, noting that they were three times as likely to have met the criteria for substance dependence or abuse than those who had not experienced mental illness in the past year (20 percent versus 6 percent). Those who had experienced serious mental illness in the past year had even a higher rate of substance dependence or abuse (25 percent). “These data underscore the importance of substance abuse treatment as well,” said Hyde. The report also delved into the mental health issues of Americans aged 12 to 17. It found that 1.9 million kids between the ages of 12 and 17 — or about 8 percent — had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. A major depressive episode is defined as a period of at least two weeks when a person experienced a depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities and had at least four of seven additional symptoms reflecting the criteria as described in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, officials explain. The kids who had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year had more than twice the rate of illicit drug use (37.2 percent) as their counterparts who weren’t depressed (17.8 percent). Poster Comment: Well I see it's dropped significantly since 2008...... Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest A new report reveals that nearly 46 million American adults aged 18 or older experienced mental illness in the past year. This is roughly 20 percent of the adult population in the United States. Psychiatrist Confirms: Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder As a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, Lyle Rossiter has treated over 1,500 patients and examined over 2,700 civil and criminal cases. Turning his hand to political psychopathology, the author of The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, has diagnosed an alarming percentage of the population as suffering from the grotesque form of mental derangement known by some as moonbattery. Among Rossiter's observations: Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded. Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave. A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity — as liberals do. A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population — as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which over-regulates and over-taxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state — as liberals do. The roots of liberalism — and its associated madness — can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind. When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious. Basically liberalism is a willful failure to mature beyond adolescence that can have catastrophic consequences for society. With luck, the official diagnosis of this disease by a mental health professional will facilitate the search for a cure. Quiz of the Day: Who made the statement "The world would be a better place if only Men were to vote?????? HINT: It was a woman!!! Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
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