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Serious Psychological Distress and Receipt of Mental Health Services

The NSDUH Report - - Serious Psychological Distress and Receipt of Mental Health Services

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 Highlights:

  • SAMHSA's 2007 National Survey on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH) found that 10.9% of adults aged 18 or older (24.3 million) experienced serious psychological distress (SPD) in the past year.
  • Of the adults who experienced serious psychological distress in the past year, less than half (44.6%) received mental health services during that time.
  • Young adults aged 18 to 25 with serious psychological distress were less likely than other adults with serious psychological distress to have received mental health services: 29.4% of those aged 18 to 25; 47.2% of those aged 26 to 49, and 53.8% of those aged 50 or older with past year serious psychological distress received mental health services in the past year.
  • Of the adults with past year serious psychological distress, 6.9% received all three types of mental health services (inpatient, outpatient, and prescription medication), 43.3% received only outpatient services and prescription medication, and 34.7% received only prescription medication.

Reports on serious psychological distress

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This Short Report, The NSDUH Report - - Serious Psychological Distress and Receipt of Mental Health Services,  is based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).  The NSDUH is  conducted by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's NSDUH is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population age 12 and older.   SAMHSA's NSDUH also provides estimates for drug use by State.

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SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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