PREVALENCE
Mental illness affects people of all ages, races, cultures, and socioeconomic classes. The prevalence of mental illness refers to how many people experience a mental illness during a specified time period. (PREVALENCE, United States and Worldwide, Mental Illness)
United States and Worldwide
In the United States, researchers estimate that about 24 percent of people 18 or older, or about 44 million adults, experience a mental illness or substance-related disorder during the course of any given year. The most common of these disorders are depression, alcohol dependence (see alcoholism), and various phobias (irrational fears of things or situations). An estimated 2.6 percent of adults in the United States, or about 4.8 million people, suffer from a severe and persistent mental illness—such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or a severe form of depression or panic disorder—in any given year. An additional 2.8 percent of adults, or about 5.2 million people, experience a mental illness that seriously interferes with one or more aspects of their daily life, such as their ability to work or relate to other people. All of these figures exclude people who are homeless and those living in prisons, nursing homes, or other institutions—populations that have high rates of mental illness. (PREVALENCE, United States and Worldwide, Mental Illness)
International surveys have demonstrated that from 30 to 40 percent of people in a given population experience a mental illness during their lives. These surveys also reveal that anxiety disorders are usually even more common than depression. (PREVALENCE, United States and Worldwide, Mental Illness)
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