You probably know at least one person with a mental illness – maybe you even know several. However, you may not have guessed that half of the people you meet, on average, will have at least one mental illness during their lifetime.
Anxiety disorders are the most common, suffered by 18% of Americans, but depression (affecting only 7%) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In fact, mental illness is a higher cause of disability in developed countries than other categories of illness – including cancer and heart disease!
Mental illness is a major problem both because of the volume of disability caused and the issues associated with it. Chronic illness, substance abuse, and injury (both intentional and unintentional) are all associated with mental illness. Some groups, such as LGBTIA+ persons, prisoners, and the homeless, are impacted more than others.
Many mental illnesses are treatable through therapy or psychiatric medication, but stigma and lack of access to healthcare can create barriers to treatment. In order to remove these barriers, it’s important to remember just how common mental illness really is.
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Sources
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). CDC report: mental illness surveillance among adults in the United States [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/fact_sheet.html
2. National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Mental health by the numbers [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers
3. World Health Organization. (2017). Depression [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/
4. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2006). Mental health problems of prison and jail inmates [Special report]. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf
5. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Health and homelessness [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/homelessness-health.aspx
Elizabeth Johnson 