Mental Health
Facts & Links
- Mental illnesses are biological brain disorders
that interfere with normal brain chemistry. They are not anyone's
fault. They are not caused by poor parenting or weak character.
Genetic factors may create a predisposition toward mental illness
in some people, and life stresses may trigger the onset of symptoms.
- Mental illnesses are equal opportunity diseases,
striking people regardless of age, race, income, religion, or
education.
- Approximately 25 million Americans are affected
by mental illness each year.
- Four of the top ten leading causes of disability
are mental illnesses.
- Over 95% of suicides are the result of untreated
depression.
- In 1998, suicide was the 2nd leading cause
of death among 15-24 year olds in Minnesota.
- Mental illness is not preventable or curable
at this time, but it is treatable. Appropriate medical care and
rehabilitation enable many people to recover enough to live productive
lives.
- The number one reason for hospital admissions
nationwide is a biological psychiatric condition. At any moment,
almost 21 percent of all hospital beds are filled by people with
a mental illness, more than cancer, heart disease, and lung disease
combined.
- Roughly 80-90% of people with serious brain
disorders are unemployed.
- Despite media focus on the exceptions, individuals
receiving treatment for schizophrenia are no more prone to violence
than the general public.
- Roughly 159,000 people with severe mental illnesses
are incarcerated in jails and prisons, mostly for crimes they
committed because they were not being treated for their illness.
- Almost one third of all U.S. jails incarcerate
people with severe mental illnesses who have no charges against
them, but are merely waiting for psychiatric evaluation or the
availability of a psychiatric hospital bed.
(Information courtesy
of NAMI of Olmsted County)
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Links
For more information on mental health issues,
check out some of the website listed below:
NAMI
NAMI of
Olmsted County
National Mental
Health Association
Federation of Families
for Children's Mental Health
World Federation
for Mental Health
Resource Center
to Address Discrimination & Stigma
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