CDC Report identifies need for increased monitoring of adult mental illness

WHAT

The report, Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States, appears as a supplement in today’s issue of the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Prepared by the Public Health Surveillance Program Office, it is the first agency-wide compilation of data from selected surveillance and information systems that measure the prevalence and effects of mental illness in the U.S. adult population. CDC plans to issue a similar report in 2012 focusing on childhood mental illness.

The CDC report explains that numerous chronic diseases are associated with mental illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. In such instances, treatment of the mental illness also can reduce the effect of the chronic disease. Authors say that increased mental health surveillance efforts will provide vital data needed to guide effective mental illness prevention and treatment programs.

When

Embargoed until noon, Thursday, September 1, 2011

Where

www.cdc.gov/mmwr

Background

About half of U.S. adults will develop a mental illness during their lifetime and CDC recommends increased surveillance efforts as a way to bolster treatment and prevention thereby improving public health, according to the new report from the CDC.

“We know that mental illness is an important public health problem in itself and is also associated with chronic medical diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer,” said Ileana Arias, Ph.D., principle deputy director of CDC. “The report’s findings indicate that we need to expand surveillance activities that monitor levels of mental illness in the United States in order to strengthen our prevention efforts.”

A 2009 survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that 11 million adults (4.8 percent) in the U.S. suffered serious mental illness in the past year -- a diagnosable mental disorder has substantially interfered with, or limited one or more major life activities.
Approximately 8.4 million adults in the U.S. had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, 2.2 million made suicide plans, and one million attempted suicide.

"This new CDC study combined with SAMHSA’s latest surveillance data provides a powerful picture of the impact of mental illness on public health,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. “People with mental disorders should seek help with the same urgency as any other health condition. Treatment and support services are effective and people do recover.”

CDC surveillance systems currently provide several types of mental health information, such as estimates of the prevalence of diagnosed mental illness from self-report or recorded diagnosis, estimates of the prevalence of symptoms associated with mental illness, and estimates of the effect of mental illness on health and well-being. Such data provides important evidence used by agencies and advocacy groups to guide effective mental health promotion, and mental illness prevention and treatment programs.

CDC Media Relations - Media Advisory: September 1, 2011

Half of Americans Will Suffer From Mental Health Woes, CDC Says

Much more needs to be done to help spot those at risk and assist them, experts say

URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_116043.html
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THURSDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- About half of Americans will experience some form of mental health problem at some point in their life, a new government report warns, and more must be done to help them.

Mental health issues run the gamut from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder to suicide, and many of those suffering presently do not get help, experts say.

The new report, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tallied the national burden of mental illness based on country-wide surveys.

There are "unacceptably high levels of mental illness in the United States," said Ileana Arias, principal deputy director of the CDC. "Essentially, about 25 percent of adult Americans reported having a mental illness in the previous year. In addition to the high level, we were surprised by the cost associated with that -- we estimated about $300 billion in 2002."

The high cost includes care for the illness and lost productivity, Arias said.

It isn't clear why so many Americans suffer from mental illness, Arias added. "This is an issue that needs to be addressed," she said, not only because of the illness itself, but because mental disorders are associated with other chronic illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.

And while having a psychiatric illness is tough enough, the stigma surrounding these diagnoses adds to the burden, experts said.

"Mental illness is frequently seen as a moral issue or an issue of weakness," Arias explained. "It is a condition no different from cancer or other chronic diseases. People need to accept the difficulties they are having and avail themselves of the resources that are available."

The report was published Sept. 2 as a supplement to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
One survey done in 2009 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 11 million people -- nearly five percent of the population -- experienced serious mental illness during the past year, defined as conditions that affected the ability to function.

In addition, some 8.4 million Americans had suicidal thoughts in the past year and 2.2 million made plans to kill themselves. One million attempted suicide, the report found.

Information from other sources confirmed these numbers, with slight variations, the report said.
Dr. John Newcomer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, believes the problem may be even bigger than the CDC report indicates.

For example, state Medicaid programs spend a great deal on drugs to treat mental illness, which the CDC didn't take into account, Newcomer said. "For several years the top three drugs were antipsychotic drugs," he noted.

Also, many people with mental illness hide the problem from others, Newcomer said. The CDC report looked at people already in the health-care system, "but there is a big problem with underdiagnosis and undertreatment," he said.

Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said healthy living -- getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising -- can help people avoid some mental illness.

"Understanding how to deal with psychological stresses is also important," he said. "How to deal with emotional reactivity and stress tolerances are also important skills to develop early in life."

Manevitz said people should always seek help for mental health troubles whenever "you are not functioning well in your life and isolating yourself."

SOURCES: Ileana Arias, Ph.D., principal deputy director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Newcomer, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Alan Manevitz, M.D., clinical psychiatrist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Sept. 2, 2011, CDC, report, Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States

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