The US is on track to rank first in the world for mental illness following new research. The government backed, $20 million "National Comorbidity Survey Replication" found that 25% of Americans meet the mark for having a mental illness in the past year.
And 25% of those qualified as having a "serious" disorder -- something that affected day-to-day living.
Parallel studies are underway in 27 other countries. But the shrinks say we're going to be hard to beat.
On top of that, the study found fewer than half the people who need treatment get it.
In a country that's supposed to offer the best health care money can buy, that's just insane. (WashPost)
1 comment:
So we're not #1, we just think we will be?
It is not clear why Americans have such high rates of mental illness, but cultural factors clearly play a role. Immigrants quickly increase their risk of mental health problems, especially if they do not live in native ethnic communities. Minorities also tend to have lower levels of mental health problems despite lower economic status, suggesting that the social support they provide each other is protective.
Oh. So it's the Asians and the Latinos bringing it in, and the White people who are already here.
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