Mental illness affects one in five adults and one in 10 children in America. Mental illness is a leading cause of disability.
Nearly two-thirds of people with a diagnosable mental illness do not seek treatment.
Minorities are less likely to receive diagnosis and treatment for their mental illness, have less access to and availability of mental health services and often receive a poorer quality of mental health care.
- Poverty level affects mental health status. African Americans living below the poverty level, as compared to those over twice the poverty level, are three times more likely to report psychological distress.
- The death rate from suicide for African American men was more than four times greater than for African American women, in 2014.
- American Indian/Alaska Natives are 50 percent more likely to experience feelings of nervousness or restlessness as compared to non-Hispanic whites.
- Violent deaths - unintentional injuries, homicide and suicide account for 75 percent of all mortality in the second decade of life for American Indian/Alaska Natives.
- Suicide was the ninth leading cause of death for Asian Americans.
- Southeast Asian refugees are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after immigration to the U.S.
- The death rate from suicide for Hispanic men was four times the rate for Hispanic women, in 2014.
- Suicide attempts for Hispanic girls, grades nine through twelve, were 50 percent higher than for White girls in the same age group, in 2015.
