[Jun 16, 2005]

      The percentage of U.S. residents with mental illnesses who are being treated for their condition has increased in the past 10 years, despite the fact that the number of U.S. residents diagnosed with a mental condition has remained the same, according to a "landmark study" in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. Funded partly by NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, the study examined nationally representative samples of 5,388 U.S. residents in the early 1990s and 4,319 people from 2001 to 2003. Participants were all between ages 18 and 54. They found that one-third of people with a verified mental disorder are receiving treatment, up from one-fifth 10 years ago. The percentage of people treated for an emotional disorder increased from 12% in the early 1990s to 20% between 2001 and 2003, according to the study. The largest improvements in treatment rates took place in primary care, with more family doctors prescribing medications for depression and other mental disorders, the study found. The study also found that blacks and Latinos with a diagnosed mental disorder were half as likely to undergo treatment as whites during both study periods.

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Darrel Regier, a research director for the American Psychiatric Association, said, "Probably the most positive message out of the paper is the amount of true increase in treatment that is documented here. I think that is the result of a decrease in the stigma." Experts also attributed the increase in treatment to improved health insurance coverage and more treatment programs, particularly at corporations. The researchers say if treatment rates continue to increase, overall rates of mental illness eventually could decrease. "I think things are going to move in a good direction, but we're sort of in the midst of it," lead author Ronald Kessler, a sociologist at Harvard Medical School, said, adding, "The treatments done correctly ... can help people substantially." However, he noted that researchers "don't have a clue as to what will be effective" for treatment of mild mental illnesses. David Duncan, a public health and policy specialist at Brown University, said, "We may have been congratulating ourselves for extending mental health services, but we still know so little about those services. Maybe we need to step back and do more research about what works" (Donn, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 6/15).

An abstract of the study is available online.

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