
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 14, 1994                   TAG: 9401140353
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEARLY HALF OF U.S. ADULTS REPORT MENTAL PROBLEMS

Nearly half of all American adults have a significant, broadly defined, mental illness at least once during their lifetimes, and nearly a third of them have one in any given year, according to an extensive survey released Thursday.

The study found psychiatric disorders serious enough to warrant treatment to be more prevalent than previously thought. Among the psychiatric disorders counted in the survey were episodes of major depression, schizophrenia, significant manic episodes and delusions, alcohol and drug abuse.

The study, based on more than 8,000 interviews with a representative sample of Americans, found that one person in six has three or more disorders and that these individuals account for the vast majority of psychiatric cases.

The study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry found the incidence of disorders greater among people with low incomes than with high; greater among residents of major urban areas than other areas; and greater among whites than among blacks.

The study was headed by Ronald C. Kessler of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Interviewers questioned a nationally representative sample of 8,098 noninstitutionalized people aged 15 to 54 during the period 1990 to 1992 to determine how many people have had one or more of 14 different serious disorders at any point over their lifetimes, Kessler said.

Mental retardation or brief feelings of depression or fear were not included among the disorders, Kessler said.

"The majority of people with psychiatric problems receive no professional treatment," the study found. Only 42 percent who had ever suffered one of the 14 psychiatric problems had received any professional treatment, and in many cases it was from someone who was not a mental health specialist. Only 26 percent of such victims received treatment from a mental health specialist, the study found.

\ PREVALENCE OF MENTAL DISORDERS\ Type of disorder is followed by percent who suffered from it at some time in\ their lives and percent who suffered from it in previous year\ \ MOOD DISORDERS:

Major depression, 17.1 percent lifetime, 10.3 percent in previous year.

Manic episode (elevated mood), 1.6 percent, 1.3 percent.

Mild depression, 6.4 percent, 2.5 percent.

SUBSTANCE USE:

Alcohol dependence, 14.1 percent, 7.2 percent.

Other alcohol abuse, 9.4 percent, 2.5 percent.

Drug dependence, 7.5 percent, 2.8 percent.

Other drug abuse, 4.4 percent, 0.8 percent.

ANXIETY:

Social phobia, 13.3 percent, 7.9 percent.

Simple phobia, 11.3 percent, 8.8 percent.

Generalized anxiety, 5.1 percent, 3.1 percent.

Panic disorder, 3.5 percent, 2.3 percent.

Agoraphobia (fear of public places), 5.3 percent, 2.8 percent.

OTHER:

Antisocial personality, 3.5 percent, not available.

Psychosis (including schizophrenia), 0.7 percent, 0.5 percent.

by CNB