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As highlighted by the Surgeon General's report on mental health,(1) few adults who experience mental health disorders obtain care. Data from the early 1980s and early 1990s reveal that approximately 28 percent of the U.S. population has a diagnosable mental health or addictive disorder. Of these, however, fewer than one-third receive mental health services in a given year. Approximately 6 percent of the adult population use specialty mental health care, 5 percent use general medical and/or human services providers, and 3-4 percent receive services from other human service professionals or self-help groups. African-Americans and Hispanics are far less likely to use mental health services than Whites. Limited data also reveal low rates of service use for Alaskan Natives and American Indians and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.(2)
Though limited data are available to describe women's use of mental health care, it is apparent that depression significantly affects women. Approximately 5 percent of women's ambulatory care visits on average in 1997-98 included mentions of drugs to treat depression. Mentions of antidepressants were more common for women under age 65 and nearly twice as common for White than Black women. In 1999, women were also more likely than men to be hospitalized for depression, with 410,000 discharges for women as compared to 287,000 discharges for men in 1999. Hospital data are likely to understate the use of mental health services since many individuals affected by mental disorders may not use inpatient mental health care.
1 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, 1999.
2 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity —A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services.
