1. Are any statistics published regarding what percentage of patients by type of mental illness either 1) become cured or 2) at least become socially functional?

2. Are any statistics published regarding the overall mental health of populations as to whether mental health problems are 1) increasing or 2) decreasing?

3. Are any statistics published regarding the overall mental health of populations as to whether mental health treatment is 1) increasing or 2) decreasing?

(You may have to reword these questions, and I ask because it seems that the answers have always been so hush-hush.)

I found quite a few articles on various statistical information. This seems like a good article for your questions. Page 359 has a chart that may answer your #1.

Here's another article called Psychiatric Patients and Extended Visit: A Survey of Research Findings.

Is that what you meant by 'mental health'? if not, let us know.

jusork: Both were restricted to me so that I could not read them. Today being Easter Sunday, I will try at another time.

Oh, sorry.

You can search for the titles. The title of the first link is 'Statistics of Mental Disorders in the United States: Current Status, Some urgent Needs and Suggested Solutions'. The title of the second is 'Psychiaatric patients and Extended Visit: A Survey of Research Findings'.

Just copy and paste each of those titles into one text box, scroll down to check the statistics box at the bottom for the first link and check sociology for the second link, and click begin search and it should take you to them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jusork,

I will concentrate on this again after I finish my tax returns.

I am still restricted. However, . . .

Keywords from your first title led me to the National Institute of Mental Health website. It claims that over 1 in 5 adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. I did notice another claim--that depressive disorders, most common, may be appearing earlier in life than they had been in the past. Another website mentions tens of millions of related doctor visits yearly. Yet another website mentions a decreasing number of related hospital beds. One can infer that there is a cost prohibition which makes outpatient treatment necessary. So is the huge mental health field hushing up an increasing number of outpatients, an increasing number of treatments, an increasing number of chronic (uncured) cases? To be fair, we must assess how many requiring and getting treatment are socially functional, whether cured . . . or uncured. After all, we must assess the mentally disabled the same way as we assess the physically disabled. A website with the name CME Inc. mentions from a 1999 Surgeon General report that 7% of adults have a mental disorder lasting over 1 year and that 5.4% of adults have a serious mental disorder inhibiting social functioning.

You can do your own investigations and analyses before bashing the inadequately little--and highly disturbing--information which I have entered here. At the very least, you should determine what are categorized as mental disorders. Many people have more than one mental disorder--further complicating the picture, whether by increasing or distorting the statistics. It also dawns on me that if the present statistics were made more available, then the epidemic would be done more harm than good, as most persons--twice as many women than men--suffer from a depressive mental disorder. Also, suicide is the third leading cause of death among individuals aged 15 and up into, I think I read, the forties.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tsaeb,

Interesting how so many people have some form of mental disorder.