MHA Issues Annual Report on ‘ The State of Mental Health in America ’

Evaluating the 50 states and the District of Columbia , Mental Health America found that the 10 with the lowest prevalence of mental illness and highest rates of access to care are : 1 ) Massachusetts , 2 ) New Jersey , 3 ) Pennsylvania , 4 ) Connecticut , 5 ) Vermont , 6 ) New York , 7 ) Wisconsin , 8 ) Maine , 9 ) Maryland , and 10 ) Minnesota .

In contrast , the 10 with the highest prevalence of mental illness and lowest rates of access to care are : 42 ) Indiana , 43 ) Utah , 44 ) Texas , 45 ) Alabama , 46 ) Oregon , 47 ) Alaska , 48 ) Wyoming , 49 ) Arizona , 50 ) Idaho , and 51 ) Nevada .

This report is a companion to the online interactive data on the MHA website , bit . ly / 3t8c7iv .” ( These data were gathered through 2019 .)

SOURCE : Mental Health America : “ 2022 : The State of Mental Health in America ,” bit . ly / 3FW8bZH

Health Panel Recommends Anxiety Screening for All Adults Under 65

“ A panel of medical experts on [ Sept . 20 , 2022 ] recommended for the first time that doctors screen all adult patients under 65 for anxiety , guidance that highlights the extraordinary stress levels that have plagued the United States since the start of the pandemic .

“ The advisory group , called the U . S . Preventive Services Task Force , said the guidance was intended to help prevent mental health disorders from going undetected and untreated for years or even decades . It made a similar recommendation for children and teenagers earlier this year .”

SOURCE : New York Times , by Emily Baumgaertner , Sept . 20 , 2022 , nyti . ms / 3Bztw7F

AMA President Argues That Lack of Access to Evidence- Based Mental Health Care Poses Grave Threat

“ The pandemic aggravated a longstanding and unaddressed nationwide crisis in mental and behavioral health , and a significant contributing factor has been the ongoing shortage of mental health professionals . …

“ Lackluster enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act is a significant factor driving this crisis . … an annual federal review ( bit . ly / 3hbsfgn ) shows that insurers consistently fail to comply with this law , and that their violations have become more numerous and egregious .

“ As a result , millions of patients have been harmed by parity failures , and this harm will continue until insurers are held accountable for their actions . …

SOURCE : AMA , Nov . 3 , 2022 , by Jack Resneck , Jr ., MD , bit . ly / 3EdsQaH

Putting Mental Health in America on the Map

“ In a new story created with ArcGIS StoryMaps bit . ly / 3fOgzQA , we show how pervasive poor mental health has become in the United States . Our analysis indicated that there was nearly a 40-fold increase in the number of counties where individuals reported five or more poor mental health days per month on average from 2015 to 2019 . It ’ s clear that a mental health crisis was already affecting wide swaths of the United States even before the COVID-19 pandemic , which is widely believed to have worsened mental health for millions of people .”

SOURCE : Esri , Oct . 1 , 2022 , by Dr . Este Geraghty , MD , MS , MPH , CPH , GISP , chief medical officer at Esri , bit . ly / 3fIuXd5

90 % of US adults say the United States is experiencing a mental health crisis , CNN / KFF poll finds

“ An overwhelming majority of people in the United States think the country is experiencing a mental health crisis , according to a new survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation .

“ Nine out of 10 adults said ​they believed that there ’ s a mental health crisis in the U . S . today . Asked to rate the severity of six specific mental health concerns , Americans put the opioid epidemic near the top , with more than two-thirds of people identifying it as a crisis rather than merely a problem . More than half identified mental health issues among children and teenagers as a crisis , as well as severe mental illness in adults .

“ The survey captured the perceptions of a nationally representative sample of about 2,000 adults over the summer – 2½ years into the COVID-19 pandemic and amid ongoing public health threats including racism and gun violence .”

SOURCE : CNN , Oct . 5 , 2022 , by Deidre McPhillips , cnn . it / 3ThJ8Dm

Mass School Shootings Are Not Caused by Mental Illness

“ Summary : Most perpetrators of mass school shootings do not suffer from severe mental illness , a new study reports . When psychosis is present , mass murderers in an academic setting use means other than firearms to commit their crimes . Consistent with previous findings , the majority of mass school shooters are male and Caucasian , and almost half of school shooting episodes end with the perpetrator ’ s suicide .”

SOURCE : NeuroscienceNews . com , Oct . 31 , 2022 , bit . ly / 3fOik08 , based on report from Columbia University , bit . ly / 3NNmsdh

7 The Advocate Magazine 2022 , Issue # 3 American Mental Health Counselors Association ( AMHCA ) www . amhca . org