Government Study Says 50% Will Be Mentally Ill at Some Point in Their Lives

[onedomino]

This explains a lot: Howard Dean, Air America, Boston Red Sox fans, etc.

Most Will Be Mentally Ill at Some Point, Study Says
By BENEDICT CAREY

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/health/07mental.html?oref=login (requires registration)

More than half of Americans will develop a mental illness at some point in their lives, often beginning in childhood or adolescence, researchers have found in a survey that experts say will have wide-ranging implications for the practice of psychiatry.

The survey is the most comprehensive in a series of censuslike mental health studies undertaken by the government. The findings of those studies are frequently cited by researchers, advocacy groups, policy makers and drug manufacturers to emphasize the importance of diagnosing and treating mental illness.

The earlier, less comprehensive surveys, which were published in 1984 and 1994 and which also found a high prevalence of mental illness, came under attack on the ground that they defined mental illness too broadly. Now, experts say, the new findings are sure to renew debate about whether mental illness can be reliably distinguished from garden-variety emotional struggles that are part of any life.

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, the primary sponsor of the study, said in a conference call with reporters, "The key point to remember is that mental disorders are highly prevalent and chronic."

The study, Dr. Insel added, "demonstrates clearly that these really are the chronic disorders of young people in this country."

On the other side are psychiatrists who say they believe that the estimates are inflated. "Fifty percent of Americans mentally impaired - are you kidding me?" said Dr. Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

While the new survey was carefully done, Dr. McHugh said, "the problem is that the diagnostic manual we are using in psychiatry is like a field guide and it just keeps expanding and expanding."

"Pretty soon," he said, "we'll have a syndrome for short, fat Irish guys with a Boston accent, and I'll be mentally ill."

The report comes amid debate about whether adults and children should be screened for mental disorders, and where the line between illness and health should be drawn. The answers will have an enormous effect on who receives treatment and which disorders are covered by insurance.

The $20 million survey, which in addition to the government financing received some support from health research foundations and pharmaceutical companies, appears in a series of four papers in the June issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry. The investigators arranged face-to-face interviews with a broad cross section of 9,282 Americans ages 18 and over, and the interviewers asked the participants whether they had experienced periods of extended sadness, alcohol or drug abuse, irrational fears or a host of other symptoms. If so, the interviewers probed more pointedly about the episodes, asking how long they lasted and how they affected the participants' behavior.

People who described symptoms that met criteria outlined in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual were classified as having had a mental disorder.

As expected, the researchers found that the most common problems were depression, affecting about 17 percent of the people at some point in their lives, and alcohol abuse, affecting 13 percent. Phobias were also common, including social phobia, a form of extreme anxiety that affected 12 percent. More than a quarter of those interviewed had had a mental disorder in the last year.

Of those people who had suffered from a mental illness at some point in their lives, most developed the problem at a young age. Mood disorders like depression typically first struck people in early adulthood, in their 20's or early 30's. But impulse-control problems like attention deficit hyperactivity, and anxiety problems like phobias, usually started far earlier, often by age 11.

Dr. Ronald C. Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, was the lead author of the survey, and was joined by a team of researchers from other universities and from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Kessler said the rates of illness found should not be surprising.

"If I told you that 99 percent of Americans have had a physical illness, you wouldn't blink an eye," he said in an interview. "The fact is that there is a very wide range included here, with the equivalent of many psychiatric hangnails. We don't want to demonize those, but we don't want to trivialize them, either, because we know in many cases they lead to serious problems later on."

The investigators also asked the study participants about treatments, and found mixed results. Although people were more likely to find care than they were 10 years ago, only a third of the treatments met even minimal standards for effectiveness, said one co-author, Dr. Philip S. Wang, an assistant professor in the department of health care policy at Harvard.

 

[USViking]

I saw this article in the paper, and it is a crock.

"Extended sadness" is a mental disorder symptom?! "Extreme anxiety" is an actual disorder? These are part of the burden that each human being must bear for a lifetime.

Even if the results are accurate, then they do the shrinkology sciences no good, since most of those afflicted apparently enjoy spontaneous recovery, without therapy.

In fact, one of the few things I recall from Psych 101 is that the rate of unassisted recovery from mental disorder is as good as the rate for those patients having therapy, which places the entire field of psychological medicine under suspicion for its questionable efficacy.

 

[GotZoom]

Someone told me this...but I dismissed it as just another lie the voices in my head tell me.

 

[5stringJeff]

I saw this article in the paper, and it is a crock.

"Extended sadness" is a mental disorder symptom?! "Extreme anxiety" is an actual disorder? These are part of the burden that each human being must bear for a lifetime.

Even if the results are accurate, then they do the shrinkology sciences no good, since most of those afflicted apparently enjoy spontaneous recovery, without therapy.

In fact, one of the few things I recall from Psych 101 is that the rate of unassisted recovery from mental disorder is as good as the rate for those patients having therapy, which places the entire field of psychological medicine under suspicion for its questionable efficacy.

I totally agree... what a crock of crap.

 

[Joz]

Well, whether you gentlemen think it's a crock or not, it's true. I have friends who have had "extreme anxiety" and such others mentioned. This goes on their medical record. It follows them.....
And should you ever have something else .....it's blamed on your mental problem

 

[5stringJeff]

Well, whether you gentlemen think it's a crock or not, it's true. I have friends who have had "extreme anxiety" and such others mentioned. This goes on their medical record. It follows them.....
And should you ever have something else .....it's blamed on your mental problem

That's why I don't go to the doctor!

 

[onedomino]

I saw this article in the paper, and it is a crock.

"Extended sadness" is a mental disorder symptom?! "Extreme anxiety" is an actual disorder? These are part of the burden that each human being must bear for a lifetime.

Even if the results are accurate, then they do the shrinkology sciences no good, since most of those afflicted apparently enjoy spontaneous recovery, without therapy.

In fact, one of the few things I recall from Psych 101 is that the rate of unassisted recovery from mental disorder is as good as the rate for those patients having therapy, which places the entire field of psychological medicine under suspicion for its questionable efficacy.

Did you pass Psychology 101? You do not think that depression and anxiety can be mental illnesses? Think again. According to the National Institute of Mental Health there are five types of anxiety disorder and 19 million affected: generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia (or social anxiety disorder): http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/anxiety.cfm Regarding depression, one form of which is extended sadness: "depressive illnesses often interfere with normal functioning and cause pain and suffering not only to those who have a disorder, but also to those who care about them. Serious depression can destroy family life as well as the life of the ill person." More than 9% of the population suffers from some form of depression: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm#intro

 

[onedomino]

I totally agree... what a crock of crap.

And on what do you base this opinion? Your own $20 million study that interviewed almost 10,000 people that contradicts the research findings?

 

[no1tovote4]

And on what do you base this opinion? Your own $20 million study that interviewed almost 10,000 people that contradicts the research findings?

How about his personal experience from spending years on this planet and an understanding that 50% of the people that he has met are not psychologically unsound.

 

[5stringJeff]

And on what do you base this opinion? Your own $20 million study that interviewed almost 10,000 people that contradicts the research findings?

I base it on my observation of human beings in the world. I do not see half of the population suffering from mental illness. Then again, I'm sure that my definition of mental illness is a bit more limited than the National Institute for Mental Health, which, frankly, stands to gain a lot of funding if there are supposedly a lot of mentally ill people out there.

I'm not trying to downplay people who actually do have mental problems. But half of America? I don't buy it.

 

[onedomino]

How about his personal experience from spending years on this planet and an understanding that 50% of the people that he has met are not psychologically unsound.

What does that mean? That fifty percent are? Did you even read the article? The research said that 50 percent of people suffer from a mental illness, not continuously, but sometime in their lives.

 

[no1tovote4]

What does that mean? That fifty percent are? Did you even read the article? The research said that 50 percent of people suffer from a mental illness, not continuously, but sometime in their lives.

Did you read the article and the points made in between about the fact that many disagree with what they are defining as a "mental illness"?

He can base an opinion about the validity of the "study" based on personal experience and a survey of his surroundings that make him believe that the study is exaggerating the amount of "mental illness" for the benefit of those that work and make a living in psychology.

Who pays for a study often reflects in the results, the assumption that the study should be taken at face value without regard to our own personal experience and valid questions about the veracity of the results is without merit.

 

[USViking]

And on what do you base this opinion? Your own $20 million study that interviewed almost 10,000 people that contradicts the research findings?

We are questioning the study's premise that such things as "sadness" and "anxiety" are anything but normal.

Furthermore, i believe criteria for "alcohol and drug abuse" have been reduced to absurdly low levels. Anything more than two drinks a day is probably considered abuse, not to mention one toke of weed per week.

 

[onedomino]

He can base an opinion about the validity of the "study" based on personal experience and a survey of his surroundings that make him believe that the study is exaggerating the amount of "mental illness" for the benefit of those that work and make a living in psychology.

So the reason that the $20 million government study of nearly 10,000 individuals found that 50 percent of people have a mental illness at some point in their lives is because researchers and pschologists want more money? How many people do you know well enough to make a judgment on their mental health? Twenty, fifty, one hundred? How many locations across the US have you evaluated the mental health of individuals? What specific evidence do you have that contradicts the study?

 

[GotZoom]

Two points.

1. I wonder if any drug companies were involved in this study.

2. Not to short change the people who are really ill, but I'm getting a little tired of whiney crybabies who blame everything on everything else. We all know people who are just weinies - Oh poor me...I'm so sad....give me something.

Too many doctors are ready to prescribe some kind of drug to someone who is feeling "sad" instead of just saying "Yo, get over it. What do you have to be sad about?"

When you wake up in the morning, you have a choice. You can be in a good mood or a bad mood.

Why would anyone choose to be in a bad mood.

Unfortunately, many people do.

 

[onedomino]

We are questioning the study's premise that such things as "sadness" and "anxiety" are anything but normal.

Furthermore, i believe criteria for "alcohol and drug abuse" have been reduced to absurdly low levels. Anything more than two drinks a day is probably considered abuse, not to mention one toke of weed per week.

You do not think that depression and anxiety can be mental illnesses? Did you see my post above outlining five categories of anxiety disorder? Do you believe that these disorders are not mental illnesses?

 

[no1tovote4]

So the reason that the $20 million government study of nearly 10,000 individuals found that 50 percent of people have a mental illness at some point in their lives is because researchers and pschologists want more money? How many people do you know well enough to make a judgment on their mental health? Twenty, fifty, one hundred? How many locations across the US have you evaluated the mental health of individuals? What specific evidence do you have that contradicts the study?

You didn't read the article then:

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, the primary sponsor of the study, said in a conference call with reporters, "The key point to remember is that mental disorders are highly prevalent and chronic."

This was not a $20 million dollar government study, the primary sponsor of the study is the National Institute of Mental Health. Follow the money friend...

Then the "study" says that mental illness is chronic and highly prevalent, therfore causing us to look around to see how many of our friends are chronically mentally ill and finding that the numbers do not match to the reality that we know and see every day.

 

[5stringJeff]

So the reason that the $20 million government study of nearly 10,000 individuals found that 50 percent of people have a mental illness at some point in their lives is because researchers and pschologists want more money? How many people do you know well enough to make a judgment on their mental health? Twenty, fifty, one hundred? How many locations across the US have you evaluated the mental health of individuals? What specific evidence do you have that contradicts the study?

Being a government employee and understanding the fight for money, I can tell you that the NIMH is likely fishing for dollars as the FY2006 budget bills start to make their ways through Congress. It's common government agency practice - justifying your existence. Again, I'm not trying to belittle people who actually do have mental health problems. But, based on my observations, I have a hard time believing that half of America is mentally ill.

 

[USViking]

Did you pass Psychology 101?

For your information I got 18 As, 17 Bs, and 5 Cs in college, (also 12 hrs. AP credit) including Bs in two psychology courses.

You do not think that depression and anxiety can be mental illnesses? Think again. According to the National Institute of Mental Health there are five types of anxiety disorder and 19 million affected: generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia (or social anxiety disorder): http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/anxiety.cfm Regarding depression, one form of which is extended sadness: "depressive illnesses often interfere with normal functioning and cause pain and suffering not only to those who have a disorder, but also to those who care about them. Serious depression can destroy family life as well as the life of the ill person." More than 9% of the population suffers from some form of depression: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm#intro

Yes, I do think depression and anxiety can be mental illnesses, and I also think studies such as the ones sited in this set thread the bar way to low when they define these illnesses.

And what do you make of the fact that however many clinically disordered people there are, half recover without treatment? Doesn't that make you wonder if they should really have been described as disordered to start with?

 

[GotZoom]

For your information I got 18 As, 17 Bs, and 5 Cs in college, (also 12 hrs. AP credit) including Bs in two psychology courses.

You did better than Kerry and Bush combined!!

Good job!