Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 5-11, 2014

Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 5-11, 2014

10/6/14 James Winston

Numbers of Americans Affected by Mental Illness

• One in four adults−approximately 61.5 million Americans−experiences mental illness in a given year.
• One in 17−about 13.6 million−live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. ¹
• Approximately 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. For ages 8 to 15, the estimate is 13 percent.²
• Approximately 1.1 percent of American adults—about 2.4 million people—live with schizophrenia.^3,4
• Approximately 2.6 percent of American adults−6.1 million people−live with bipolar disorder.^4,5
• Approximately 6.7 percent of American adults−about 14.8 million people−live with major depression.^4,6
• Approximately 18.1 percent of American adults−about 42 million people−live with anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder and phobias.^4,7
• About 9.2 million adults have co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders.⁸
• Approximately 26 percent of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46 percent live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.⁹
• Approximately 20 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.¹⁰
• Seventy percent of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20 percent live with a severe mental illness.¹¹

Getting Mental Health Treatment in America

• Approximately 60 percent of adults¹², and almost one-half of youth ages 8 to 15 with a mental illness received no mental health services in the previous year.¹³
• African American and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at about one-half the rate of whites in the past year and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.¹⁴
• One-half of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14; three-quarters by age 24.¹⁵ Despite effective treatment, there are long delays−sometimes decades−between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.¹⁶

The Impact of Mental Illness in America

• Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.¹⁷
• Mood disorders such as depression are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults ages 18 to 44.¹⁸
• Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions.¹⁹ Adults living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than other Americans, largely due to treatable medical conditions.²⁰
• Over 50 percent of students with a mental health condition age 14 and older who are served by special education drop out−the highest dropout rate of any disability group.²¹
• Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. (more common than homicide) and the third leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24 years.²² More than 90 percent of those who die by suicide had one or more mental disorders.²³
• Although military members comprise less than 1 percent of the U.S. population²⁴, veterans represent 20 percent of suicides nationally. Each day, about 22 veterans die from suicide.25

  ^{Source: http://www.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf}