Mental Illness -- Facts and Numbers
NAMI • The National Alliance on Mental Illness -- www.nami.org
Numbers of Americans Affected by Mental Illness
* One in four adults -- approximately 61.5 million Americans -- experiences mental illness in a given year. One in 17 -- about 13.6 million -- live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder.[1]
* Approximately 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. For ages 8 to 15, the estimate is 13 percent.[2]
[...]
* Approximately 26 percent of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46 percent live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.[9]
* Approximately 20 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.[10]
* Seventy percent of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20 percent live with a severe mental illness.[11]
[...]
Having lost too many of my dear friends and love ones (over the years) to this
'do not mention in polite company' stigma -- I can tell you, it is a problem -- that is
all too Real. On far too many occasions this taboo topic, has its devastating effects.
On families, on communities, on our often thread-bare and too-fragile social fabric.
Sometimes.people.just.FALL.right.through ...
And THIS is what made me, think about THAT ...
Bloomberg calls for stricter gun laws in wake of Isla Vista rampage
by Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News -- 6-1-2014
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is weighing in on the rampage in Santa Barbara, California, calling both for stricter gun laws and for background checks for people with mental illness.
"The real problem here is we have too many guns in the hands of criminals, people with psychiatric problems -- as this guy obviously did -- and minors," Bloomberg said on "Meet The Press" on Sunday. "And we've got to find some ways to stop that.
"You always have to have due process, and you can't just go incarcerate people," Bloomberg continued. "And psychiatrists will tell you they can't predict which people with mental illness are gonna get a gun and start killing people. But you do want to have laws that let you get a temporary restraining order" before granting gun licenses to them.
[...]
Good Observations. And some even better Questions.
Glad someone has the guts to ask them.
AND one more not-so-fun-fact, on America's rarely mentioned 'sweep under the rug' problem:
Getting Mental Health Treatment in America
NAMI • The National Alliance on Mental Illness -- www.nami.org
* Approximately 60 percent of adults[12], and almost one-half of youth ages 8 to 15 with a mental illness received no mental health services in the previous year.[13]
Of course in the estimation of most of our budget-cutting civic 'leaders', THEY --
those unable to make it in society -- are getting just what they deserve --
Nothing ... except for perhaps, an endless dose of mind-numbing "Meds."
That's if they're 'lucky' enough, to rate the cut ... and are not simply cast out into the 'mean streets', to {cough} fend for themselves ...