Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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America and Mental Illness
According to a new report by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency, almost 20 percent of Americans experienced some kind of mental illness in the last year. That's 44.5 million adults, guys!The report defines "mental illness" as "any sort of mental, behavioral or emotional disorder that is diagnosable from the DSM-IV," and it must cause "substantial functional impairment." It lists the states in order of how many of their citizens experienced mental illness. Maryland had the lowest percentage, at 16.7%, with Rhode Island taking the top spot with 24.2%.
Click here to see the rest of the list.
Where does your state rank?
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- From: darci
- About Me: I'm a New York native attending the University of Miami (go Canes!). I love Cherry Coke, all '80s pop culture, the Olympics, snow, and a good story. I hate running, have been known to eat junk food after I finish up at the gym, and have an ongoing rivalry with the Jacob's Ladder. I'm my own brand of health nut!
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Comments (33)
That means 1 in 5 of you people need therapy.
Texas is ranked 30th. I also like how the picture they put is of Dallas and not Austin. I can tell you now I fear to the other 29 states that rank higher than mine...
My "state" doesn't rank anywhere. I'm Canadian. However, I don't think it matters what state ranks higher or lower than other on that silly little list. Some states may rank higher or lower depending on the availability of mental health care and support.
This list should be a wake up call. I am sick and tired of the stigma around mental illness. More support and resources need to be offered for those who are suffering. If 20 percent of Americans are suffering, there should be more funding and more information available through out schools and across the country.
Mental health is JUST as important as physical health. It doesn't matter if you're in the best shape of your life if you want to kill yourself. Trust me, I've been there. Or am there. Whatever. People need to be educated about the realities of mental illness. Then perhaps we can help to eliminate stigmas, although they'll always exist in some form...
I think going through some form of mental illness during your lifetime is normal. Either that or mental illness is completely blown out of proportion to the point where we believe certain things that are actually normal human behavoir are wrongly labeled abnormal.
I wonder why Rhode Island is the highest percentile...
Isn't 12% considered an epidemic? Haha. I believe this though. It seems like everybody I know has something wrong with them these days.
It's not surprising. It's much easier to diagnose disorders today than it was even twenty years ago.
We're number 5!
That's because LIFE SUCKS
@lilblucherrygrl@xanga - agreed. Happiness is never a given.
That doesn't surprise me. If it was socially acceptable and you asked, "who here is on a psychiatric drug, or has even been to counseling?" a good amount of people would raise their hands. But people keep their struggles in the dark.
Sometimes I want to yell out to a classroom full of people, "SO, anyone else spent time in a psych ward?" because I bet I'm not alone.
The DSM has everything from panic attacks to depression, which a ton of people will experience at least once in their lifetime, to sleep disorders and pedophilia, even psychopaths under APD. That fits in a lot of people.
I don't think the stat is out-of-proportion if you consider that. Also, it depends on what they defined as impairment. If, when depressed I don't leave bed to eat or shower, self-harm, cry, lose weight unintentionally, let my responsibilities fall to the wayside, and abandon social relationships...I would call that impairment. But to someone with more moderate depression, missing out on a few oppurtunities at work due to sluggishness could be called impairment.
Georgia is 19. something %
Idaho and Utah at #3 and #2, respectively. Idaho and Utah are both around 50% Mormon. I've long since suspected a correlation between being LDS and being depressed, and this just confirms that suspicion. (Yes, there is a reason for this).
Thank you for validating my suspicions!
that's weird that rhode island is number one, considering the state is so small... that's a lot of mentally ill people in a small state.....
It's much higher than 20% actually. Those are the people who actually go and get diagnosed. There are actually people in denial and people who refuse to go to doctors to get help.
nearly everyone my age is hopped on vyvanse to make good grades. i'm sure the percentage is super higher.
@raspberryjade@xanga - Considering how they're not really showing how they did their statistics, I'd assume they did it by the average though, and Rhode Island has less people in their state than other states.
Going off of the 2010 census, the total population of Rhode Island is 1,052,567 people, and 24.2% of that is 254,721.214 (last three would round up or down a person) Since that's the total population and not the adult population, it's not as bad as the percentages want us to believe. Still, you're right in saying that's a lot of people,
I think in this case, population matters more than percent.
@lilblucherrygrl@xanga - even if it is part of the human condition to experience negative emotions/behaviours etc, there is a big difference between appropriate healthy negative emotions ("normal") and unhealthy ones ("abnormal"). how can it be "blown out of proportion" if it's significantly negatively impairing a persons functioning? if it is then it needs treatment of some form, not just blowing off...
@teenspaceship@xanga - I think you misread my comment. I'm not saying the fact that a person could be experiencing severe depression for 5 years is normal and needs to be ignored. But feeling some sort of depression or anger or going through trauma at some point of your life IS something that everyone goes through at some point. And what I meant was blown out of proportion was the fact that the psychological community sometimes forgets what common human behavoir is or isn't and they easily label many things as a mental illness. I spent a good portion of my life in therapy and on meds and one thing I do know is that some people are way too quick to label someone as abnormal when what they're going through is a harsh but normal part of life. That isn't to say they should seek or recieve help but it always seems like it's a fight between "normal" and "abnormal" when there is so much middle ground that no one bothers to consider. That is all I'm saying.
@kissmycouturex@xanga - I couldn't agree more
@RulerofMasons@xanga - i heard thet coloursofthenight was a chick!
That probably just means more awareness. Personally, I think that if you look hard enough, you can find a mental illness in anyone
Most commonly being depression or anxiety. Don't make this out to sound like there are people going through crazy episodes left right and centre.
@StatelessPilot@revelife - Why? Unless the FLDS people are somehow counted in there- growing up in a patriarchal cult sure, but I don't know that a typical (dumb) religion would necessarily correlate with higher rates of depression.
@teenspaceship@xanga - I think that just because a certain behavior or feeling may be healthy or "normal", does not mean it's always 'good.' i think that's what you're forgetting there. For example, being broken up with can be absolutely devastating, and some people literally go through what looks like 'major depression' for as long as weeks or months. Is it abnormal though? No. It's a part of life. I think that's what she means.