Everyone has occasional feelings of anger, frustration sadness, fear of inadequacy and worries about the future. Often just talking about such feelings with friends or loved ones is enough to get you through a difficult period. But sometimes the problems don’t go away, resulting in sleep problems and added difficulty in working or socializing.  Anyone can develop an emotional problem. At any given time between 30 million and 45 million Americans-nearly one in five- have a mental disorder that can involve a degree of incapacity, interfering with employment, attendance at school or daily activities. There is a very strong likelihood that  mental problems  have touched  you or your love one in a very personal way.  Consider the following:

8-14 million Americans suffer from depression each year. As many as two out of ten Americans will have at least one episode of major depression during their life times.

20% of ailments for which Americans seek a doctor’s care are related to anxiety disorders such as panic attack, that interfere with their ability to live normal lives.

About 12-15  million children under the age of 18 suffer from mental disorders such as autism, depression and hyperactivity.

In all 1.5 million Americans suffer from schizophrenia disorders and 300,000 new cases occur each year

13 million Americans suffer from alcohol abuse or dependency and another 12.6 million suffer form drug abuse or dependence.

Nearly 1/4 of the elderly who are labeled senile actually suffer some form of mental illness that can be effectively  treated.

The cost of work related mental health problems to businesses is very high. Almost 3  billion dollars and an estimated 50 million working days are lost each year.

What are implications of these and other similar statistics to your life? What are implications to our health care system? What is the meaning to the mental health professions?

Source: http://www.psychiatrytalk.com/2012/02/one-in-five-american-suffer-from-mental-disorders/