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Leading Causes of Disability in the U.S.
• Three of the ten leading causes of disabilities in the U.S. are mental illnesses -- major depression, bipolar disorder, and obsessivecompulsive disorder. • Schizophrenia, a serious mental illness, is another major cause of disability in the U.S.
Mood Disorders Affect Basic Functions
Mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder can affect the ability of 19 million
Americans to work, parent, learn and fully participate in the community.
MENTAL DISORDERS IN AMERICA
Mental disorders are common illnesses in the United States. An estimated 22 percent of
Americans ages 18 and older—about one in five adults—suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in a given year. Mental illness is second only to
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The good news is that mental illness is much more treatable now than it was even 20 years ago.
Medications and therapies developed in past two decades have moved mental illness from a shameful problem that was not discussed to a routine chronic condition with ready treatments.
Unfortunately, treatments are dramatically under utilized to the detriment of individuals who suffer pain and anguish. Undertreatment ultimately leads to higher costs for state governments because patients receive care in more expensive settings like emergency departments and are hospitalized or end up in jails and prisons.
Three of the 10 leading causes of disabilities in the U.S. are mental disorders -- major depression, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Schizophrenia, a serious mental illness, is another major cause of disability in the U.S.
DEPRESSIVE, BIPOLAR AND ANXIETY DISORDERS:
TREATABLE CAUSES OF DISABILITY
DEPRESSION
Depressive disorders encompass major depression, dysthymic disorder (dysthmia may be described as a chronic milder depression), and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is included because people with this illness have depressive episodes as well as manic