The 2013 numbers are in...43.8 million Americans with mental illness

Nearly one in five adult Americans experienced mental illness in 2013
Thursday, November 20, 2014

9.3 million Americans had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year

A new report finds that 43.8 million adults (age 18 or older) experienced a diagnosable mental illness in 2013. The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also finds that 10 million adults experienced a serious mental illness and 15.7 million adults experienced a major depressive episode in 2013. These results are consistent with 2012 findings.

The SAMHSA report indicates that 9.3 million American adults (3.9 percent) had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year – 2.7 million (1.1 percent) made suicide plans and 1.3 million (0.6 percent) attempted suicide. These levels were also comparable to last year’s findings.

In 2013, major depressive episodes affected approximately one in ten (2.6 million) youth between the ages of 12 to 17. But only 38.1 percent of youths experiencing a past year major depressive episode received treatment for depression. In the same year, about 34.6 million adults (14.6 percent of adults) received mental health care (including inpatient care, outpatient care, and prescription medication) – comparable to last year’s level, but greater than the percentages from 2002 to 2011 (ranging from 12.8 percent to 13.8 percent). According to the new report, 44.7 percent of adults with any mental illness and 68.5 percent of adults with serious mental illness received mental health services.

The new findings come from SAMHSA’s 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In the survey, mental illness among adults aged 18 or older is defined as having had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder (excluding developmental and substance use disorders) in the past year based on criteria specified in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), published by the American Psychiatric Association.

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http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201411200815