Mental Illness in U.S. Economic Standards

“Misunderstood, often feared, and still stigmatized, the most severe mental illnesses affect some 5 million American adults, causing inestimable suffering to these patients and their families. But these severely ill patients–suffering from schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, major depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder–represent only a part of a broader problem from which few families are immune, for mental disorders can and do occur from childhood to old age, irrespective of gender or race. Overall, one in ten Americans experience some disability from a diagnosable mental illness in the course of any given year.

While numbers cannot convey the distress accompanying mental disorders, the economic impact can be calculated. Mental disorders cost the United States more than $150 billion each year for treatment, for the costs of social service and disability payments made to patients, and for lost productivity and premature mortality. Schizophrenia alone costs the Nation some $30 billion annually.”

Information provided by NIH.

http://www.healthieryou.com/amer.html