It’s hard to ignore the seemingly dire reports and studies that come out every year, suggesting that the mental health of Americans is only worsening (or staying the same with no real improvement). On the same page, these statistics could mean that more people are aware of their mental health issues now than in previous years.
Results from a national report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration only seem to follow the latest trend. The report stated that one in five U.S. adults had a mental illness in 2010.
An article from the Los Angeles Times added that the 2009 report had slightly lower numbers, but numbers overall were “fairly stable” when compared to the 2010 report.
The criteria used to define "mental illness" is based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that is used by mental health professionals to diagnose patients with mental illnesses, according to the report.
Other interesting findings from the report include the finding that “the rate of mental illness was more than twice as high among those aged 18 to 25 ... than among those aged 50 and older,” and “adult women were also more likely than men to have experienced mental illness in the past year.” In addition, even though 20 percent of U.S. adults age 18 and older had a mental illness in 2010, only 5 percent had a more serious mental illness.
Mental health professionals have thoughts on the reasoning behind the prevalence of mental illness in U.S. adults.
Viola Drancoli, a therapist in Los Angeles who is also a clinical psychology doctoral candidate, said in an email that the statistics in the recent report could be impacted by multiple factors.
“The slight increase of mental illness in 2010 could be influenced by people's willingness to seek professional help when they experience symptoms,” Drancoli said. “The media sometimes contributes to a decrease in stigma concerning mental illness and psychotherapy. When more people seek help, the number of diagnoses rises in a given year.”
These are hard times as well, so it makes sense that mental health would be affected by the environment.
“Of course there are external factors, such as financial hardship and unemployment, that may increase stress and lead to isolation, anxiety and depression,” Drancoli said.
“People ages 18 to 25 would be severely affected by the economy, as well. They graduate college with a lot of debt acquired from loans and are unable to find employment or settle for jobs they are overqualified for. Most of them move away from home to go to college so their primary social support system is unavailable.”
Drancoli provided her own advice on how at least some mental health issues in the United States could be resolved.
“Teaching people how to maintain adequate self-care, de-stigmatizing mental illness in communities across the U.S., removing barriers to help-seeking for ethnic minorities, and training professionals to be culturally competent are crucial steps in providing quality mental health care,” she said.
Sara Rosenquist, a board certified clinical health psychologist, said in an email that she believes only certain mental disorders are becoming more prevalent.
“The statistics for serious mental illnesses are fairly stable statistically
speaking,” Rosenquist said. “It's depression, anxiety, and ADHD that have seen the biggest gains and coincide with the availability of meds to make the feelings go away.”
Both availability of medication, a change in culture and other factors can contribute to mental illness, she said.
“We are diagnosing more partly because we are more aware, and partly
because we are more willing to complain,” Rosenquist said. “We have medications advertised directly to us, the consumers. And then there is how our culture and the stress of living in our culture has changed.”
Many people don’t have “real” relationships due to time constraints and the messy emotions that can be involved.
“The more corporate and capitalistic a culture is, the less time they have for real authentic relationships: conversation around the dinner table, naps in the afternoon, and families hanging out together without television. And the more people are squeezed so that they're slaves to ‘productivity’ at work, and then have two hurried hours at home with the kids, during which time they have to schlep the kids to extracurricular activities so they can get into a better college.”
She said weekends don’t even allow for downtime anymore.
“The house has to get cleaned, the laundry done, the errands run, more extracurriculars, and then the [favorite] TV shows,” Rosenquist said. “No connection. People are dying for authentic connection and surfing Facebook instead.”
Sources:
SAMHSA. National report finds one-in-five Americans experienced mental illness in the past year. Web. Jan. 24, 2012. http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1201185326.aspx?from=carousel&position=1&date=01192011
Stein, Jeannine. Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report. Web. Jan. 24, 2012. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/19/news/la-heb-mental-health-us-20120119
Drancoli, Viola. Email interview. Jan. 24, 2012
Rosenquist, Sara. Email interview. Jan. 24, 2012
Reviewed January 25, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith