U.S. Lacks Adequate Mental Health Services

Most of us have or will know someone who has or will struggle with mental illness at some point in their lives. Yet how many of these people actually seek the professional help they need? The findings of a survey conducted by the World Health Organization, partly funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, may surprise you.

Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with 84,848 individuals from 17 countries around the world including the United States, Japan, Nigeria, and France. All participants were asked about substance abuse, mood, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders, whether they had received any mental health services for their mental illnesses in the past year, and, if so, what type of service or services they used. Participants spanned every socioeconomic class.

Not surprisingly, individuals in developed countries sought mental health services for their mental health concerns more frequently than those who lived in less developed countries. Additionally, individuals in countries that spent more of their gross national product (GNP) on health care sought out mental health services than countries that spent less of their GNP on health care.

More specifically, the United States used mental health services more than any of the other countries surveyed with 18% of the population using mental health services. Eleven percent of France's population used mental health services and 1.6% of Nigeria's population used services in comparison.

The researchers also discovered through the survey that middle-aged individuals were more likely to use mental health services than older or younger people. Men were less likely to use mental health services than women in every country surveyed. Finally, unmarried or single people were more likely to use services than married people.

People who reported they received mental health services asserted that they most often sought them from medical doctors, such as primary care physicians, rather than from mental health professionals, such as psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists, pastors, or from traditional healers.