Last month, SAMSA released a report about the incidence of mental illness in America. A striking one in five (20%) of American adults experienced some sort of mental illness in the past year. Even worse, nearly 30% of young adults (ages 18-25) had a brush with mental illness in the past year. Women are more likely than men to have a mental disorder (23% vs 17%), though there is a gradual increase in the incidence of men dealing with psychiatric disorders.
Most disturbing is the fact that slightly less than half the people with any mental illness — and only 60 percent of those with serious, disabling ones — receive treatment each year. There are many obstacles to treatment, ranging from stigma and ignorance to financial and health care policies. This is clearly a growing issue that cannot be ignored.