One in five adults in the U.S. had a mental illness in 2010, with people ages 18 to 25 having the highest rates, according to a national survey.
The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Thursday, includes information from 68,487 completed surveys about mental illness (as defined by the American Psychiatric Assn.'s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) and substance abuse among adults and children. Rates have remained fairly stable since 2009, with only a slight uptick in overall numbers.
The unemployed, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those living below the poverty level were more likely to have mental illness in the preceding year, as were younger patients. Women appeared to be at greater risk than men (23% versus 16.8%).
Substance use disorders were more common among those with mental illness than among those reporting no disorders (20% versus 6.1%), and the prevalence was even higher among patients with serious mental illness (25.2%).
The findings emphasize the need for mental health treatment specialists to address substance use disorders, and to more extensively integrate mental health and substance use treatment centers, the researchers wrote.
They also reported that many Americans had seriously contemplated suicide over the preceding year (8.7 million), and 2.5 million had actually made suicide plans. Just over a million patients had attempted it.
Signs of mental illness were also seen in American youth, with 8% of 12-to-17-year-olds reporting a major depressive episode -- being in a depressed mood for at least two weeks -- in the preceding year.
Children and adolescents who reported feeling this way were more likely to use drugs than those who didn't have a depressive episode (37.2% versus 17.8%), they found.
The researchers called for screening kids who've had a major depressive episode for substance use disorders.
The data come from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2010.
In a statement, SAMHSA administrator Pamela Hyde warned that mental illness is often concurrent with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, and that "treatment of the mental illness can reduce the effects of these disorders.
The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Thursday, includes information from 68,487 completed surveys about mental illness (as defined by the American Psychiatric Assn.'s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) and substance abuse among adults and children. Rates have remained fairly stable since 2009, with only a slight uptick in overall numbers.
The unemployed, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those living below the poverty level were more likely to have mental illness in the preceding year, as were younger patients. Women appeared to be at greater risk than men (23% versus 16.8%).
Substance use disorders were more common among those with mental illness than among those reporting no disorders (20% versus 6.1%), and the prevalence was even higher among patients with serious mental illness (25.2%).
The findings emphasize the need for mental health treatment specialists to address substance use disorders, and to more extensively integrate mental health and substance use treatment centers, the researchers wrote.
They also reported that many Americans had seriously contemplated suicide over the preceding year (8.7 million), and 2.5 million had actually made suicide plans. Just over a million patients had attempted it.
Signs of mental illness were also seen in American youth, with 8% of 12-to-17-year-olds reporting a major depressive episode -- being in a depressed mood for at least two weeks -- in the preceding year.
Children and adolescents who reported feeling this way were more likely to use drugs than those who didn't have a depressive episode (37.2% versus 17.8%), they found.
The researchers called for screening kids who've had a major depressive episode for substance use disorders.
The data come from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2010.
In a statement, SAMHSA administrator Pamela Hyde warned that mental illness is often concurrent with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, and that "treatment of the mental illness can reduce the effects of these disorders.
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