Mental illness is a real issue. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have taken a harder look at the issue and have uncovered some alarming realities. About half of Americans will experience some form of mental health problem at some point in their life, and more must be done to help them.

Nearly 8.4 million Americans had suicidal thoughts in the past year and 2.2 million made plans to kill themselves. One million persons attempted suicide.

Ileana Arias, principal deputy director of the CDC stated:

“There are unacceptably high levels of mental illness in the United States. Essentially, about 25 percent of adult Americans reported having a mental illness in the previous year. In addition to the high level, we were surprised by the cost associated with that — we estimated about $300 billion in 2002.”

One survey done in 2009 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 11 million people, almost five percent of the population, experienced serious mental illness during the past year.

Mental health issues run the gamut from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder to suicide, and many of those suffering presently do not get help, experts say.

Arias continues:

“It isn’t clear why so many Americans suffer from mental illness. This is an issue that needs to be addressed. Mental illness is frequently seen as a moral issue or an issue of weakness. It is a condition no different from cancer or other chronic diseases. People need to accept the difficulties they are having and avail themselves of the resources that are available.”

Mental disorders are also associated with other chronic illnesses such as heart disease and cancer, which in turn increase medical bills overall for the private and public sectors. For example, state Medicaid programs spend a great deal on drugs to treat mental illness, which the CDC report didn’t take into account in fact. For several years the top three drugs in terms of distribution and revenue were antipsychotic drugs.

And while having a psychiatric illness is tough enough, the stigma surrounding these diagnoses adds to the burden, experts also found. People with mental illness often hide the problem from others. There seems to be a big problem with underdiagnosis and undertreatment according to analysis.

Is there any cure at all? Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said healthy living, getting enough sleep, eating right, and exercising can help people avoid some mental illness.

He continues:

“Understanding how to deal with psychological stresses is also important. How to deal with emotional reactivity and stress tolerances are also important skills to develop early in life. People should always seek help for mental health troubles whenever you are not functioning well in your life and isolating yourself.”

CDC surveillance systems currently provide several types of mental health information, such as estimates of the prevalence of diagnosed mental illness from self-report or recorded diagnosis, estimates of the prevalence of symptoms associated with mental illness, and estimates of the effect of mental illness on health and well-being. Such data provides important evidence used by agencies and advocacy groups to guide effective mental health promotion, and mental illness prevention and treatment programs.

Written by Sy Kraft