An Estimated 10 Million US Adults Struggle With Mental Illness REPACK

An Estimated 10 Million US Adults Struggle With Mental Illness REPACK

An Estimated 10 Million US Adults Struggle With Mental Illness >>> https://urlin.us/2sWAQl

With this changing of the clocks, daylight ends earlier. When this happens, some people may experience emerging feelings of sadness and sluggishness, and fluctuations in weight. If you suffer from these symptoms, you may have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression related to changes in the seasons. SAD affects an estimated 10 million Americans, with women four times more likely to be diagnosed with it than men. Fortunately, there are treatments available that have proven effective in treating the disorder.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about mental health and substance use have grown, including concerns about suicidal ideation. In January 2021, 41% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder (Figure 2), a share that has been largely stable since spring 2020. In a survey from June 2020, 13% of adults reported new or increased substance use due to coronavirus-related stress, and 11% of adults reported thoughts of suicide in the past 30 days. Suicide rates have long been on the rise and may worsen due to the pandemic. Early 2020 data show that drug overdose deaths were particularly pronounced from March to May 2020, coinciding with the start of pandemic-related lockdowns.

As was the case prior to the pandemic, adults in poor general health (which may reflect both physical and mental health) continue to report higher rates of anxiety and/or depression than adults in good general health.1,2 For people with chronic illness in particular, the already high likelihood of having a concurrent mental health disorder may be exacerbated by their vulnerability to severe illness from COVID-19. Recently, a study also found that 18% of individuals (including people with and without a past psychiatric diagnosis) who received a COVID-19 diagnosis were later diagnosed with a mental health disorder, such as anxiety or mood disorders. Older adults are also more vulnerable to severe illness from coronavirus and have experienced increased levels of anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

Mental distress during the pandemic is occurring against a backdrop of high rates of mental illness and substance use that existed prior to the current crisis. Prior to the pandemic, one in ten adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder. Nearly one in five U.S. adults (47 million) reported having any mental illness. In 2018, over 48,000 Americans died by suicide,3 and on average across 2017 and 2018, nearly eleven million adults reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Additionally, deaths due to drug overdose were four times higher in 2018 than in 1999, driven by the opioid crisis.

There are a variety of ways the pandemic has likely affected mental health, particularly with widespread social isolation resulting from necessary safety measures. A broad body of research links social isolation and loneliness to both poor mental and physical health. The widespread experience of loneliness became a public health concern even before the pandemic, given its association with reduced lifespan and greater risk of both mental and physical illnesses. A KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in late March 2020, shortly after many stay-at-home orders were issued, found those sheltering-in-place were more likely to report negative mental health effects resulting from worry or stress related to coronavirus compared to those not sheltering-in-place.

An earlier survey from June 2020 showed similar findings for young adults relative to all adults. The survey also found that substance use and suicidal ideation are particularly pronounced for young adults, with 25% reporting they started or increased substance use during the pandemic (compared to 13% of all adults), and 26% reporting serious thoughts of suicide (compared to 11% of all adults). Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, young adults were already at high risk of poor mental health and substance use disorder, yet many did not receive treatment.

Throughout the pandemic, we find that adults in households with children under the age of 18, compared to adults in households without, are slightly more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder (45% vs. 41%, respectively, as of December 2020).5 Specifically, among households with children under the age of 18, women have been more likely than men to report symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder throughout the pandemic (as of December 2020, 49% vs. 40%, respectively; Figure 6). Similarly, KFF Health Tracking Polls conducted during the pandemic have generally found that among parents, women are more likely than men to report negative mental health impacts.6

Throughout the pandemic, women have been more likely to report poor mental health compared to men. For example, 47% of women reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder compared to 38% of men in December 2020. Among women in the workplace, more than one in four are considering leaving their jobs or reducing their hours, with many citing burnout and household responsibilities as the primary reason. Even before the pandemic, women were more likely than men to report mental health disorders, including serious mental illness.

Existing mental illness among adolescents may be exacerbated by the pandemic, and with many school closures, they do not have the same access to key mental health services. Prior to the pandemic, more than one in ten (16%) adolescents ages 12 to 17 had anxiety and/or depression.7 Children may experience mental distress during the pandemic due to disruption in routines, loss of social contact, or stress in the household. Additionally, child abuse may be increasing during the pandemic. Child abuse-related emergency department (ED) visits dropped during the COVID-19 outbreak; however, the severity of injuries among child abuse-related ED visits has increased and resulted in more hospitalizations. Child abuse can lead to immediate emotional and psychological problems and is also an adverse childhood experience (ACE) linked to possible mental illness and substance misuse later in life. Educators play a critical role in the identification and reporting of child abuse. However, with school closures and stay-at-home orders, it is likely that many cases are going undetected, and that at-risk children have increased exposure at home to their abusers.

Congress has addressed some of the acute need for mental health and substance use services through two stimulus bills enacted during the pandemic. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed into law in December 2020, includes about $4.25 billion in funding for mental health and substance use services. It also builds on existing legislative efforts to boost insurer compliance with federal mental health parity rules. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), a stimulus bill passed in March 2020, also allocated funding for mental health and substance use services, including a $425 million appropriation for use by SAMHSA, in addition to several provisions aimed at expanding coverage for, and availability of, telehealth and other remote care for those covered by Medicare, private insurance, and other federally-funded programs. It also allowed for the Department of Veterans Affairs to arrange expansion of mental health services to isolated veterans via telehealth or other remote care services. Other efforts to address mental health needs include substantial increases in the use of telehealth for mental health services, aided early on by the federal government and many states expanding coverage and relaxing regulations for telehealth services. Looking ahead, the Biden administration and Congress could take additional steps to address mental health and substance use issues, including administrative actions addressing suicide among LGBTQ youth, mental health parity, the opioid crisis, veteran mental health services, and school-based mental health services.

Access to mental health and substance use care was a concern prior to the pandemic. In 2018, among the 6.5 million nonelderly adults experiencing serious psychological distress, 44% reported seeing a mental health professional in the past year. Compared to adults without serious psychological distress, adults with serious psychological distress were more likely to be uninsured (20% vs 13%) and be unable to afford mental health care or counseling (21% vs 3%).9 For people with insurance coverage, an increasingly common barrier to accessing mental health care is a lack of in-network options for mental health and substance use care. Those who are uninsured already face paying full price for these and other health services. As unemployment continues to affect millions of people, who in turn may lose job-based coverage, some may regain coverage through options such as Medicaid, COBRA, or the ACA Marketplace, but others may remain uninsured. With an unprecedented share of people reporting symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, the potential outcome of California v. Texas (a case challenging the constitutionality of the entire ACA) is important to consider. Prior to the ACA, people with a preexisting condition like depression might have been denied health coverage or charged higher premiums, and many individual market plans did not cover any mental health or substance use services.

Among adults in high-income countries, those in the U.S. were most likely to have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions by a doctor. In 2016, nearly one-quarter (23%) of U.S. adults reported a mental health diagnosis, compared to fewer than 10 percent of adults in France, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The relatively high unmet mental health needs among U.S. adults may reflect a limited health system capacity to meet those needs. Compared to most other high-income countries, the U.S. has a smaller total supply of mental health workers, with 105 professionals per 100,000 people. Canada, Switzerland, and Australia have approximately twice that number of mental health workers. 2b1af7f3a8