MENTAL ILLNESS HIT 1 IN 5 U.S. AMERICANS IN 2009

19.9% OF AMERICAN, MORE THAN 45 MILLION
HAD MENTAL ILLNESS OVER PAST 12 MONTHS

www.medicalnewstoday.com - Just over 45 million adults in America, 19.9% of them, have had a mental illness over the last year, and one fifth of them have a substance abuse disorder, according to a survey carried out by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). 4.8% of the adult population has had a serious mental illness during the last twelve months, that’s a total of 11 million people. SAMHSA defines serious mental illness as one that was diagnosed and considerably undermines at least one of life’s major activities. The survey found that one million Americans over 18 years of age attempted suicide, 2.2 million made plans to end their lives, and 8.4 million thought seriously about it. Young adults aged 18 to 25 had the highest level of mental illness at 30 percent, while those aged 50 and older had the lowest, with 13.7 percent. Nearly 1 in every 5 adults - 8.9 million people - with a mental illness during the last twelve months also had a substance abuse disorder.

“Too many Americans are not getting the help they need and opportunities to prevent and intervene early are being missed,” said Pamela Hyde, SAMHSA’s administrator. “The consequences for individuals, families and communities can be devastating. If left untreated mental illnesses can result in disability, substance abuse, suicides, lost productivity, and family discord.” The 2009 mental health survey hints at the impact of record unemployment rates, which last year hit a 25-year high as struggling employers slashed jobs to cope with a weak economy. For many, lost employment meant loss of health insurance, leaving many of the nation’s mentally ill unable to get treatment.


A new survey finds that 20 percent of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in the past year. Nearly 9 million of American adults with mental illness in the past year also had a substance abuse disorder. If mental illnesses left untreated, the consequences for individuals, families and communities can be devastating, say the researchers. We should understand that we are suffering many mental illnesses because we are living disconnected to the source of our life, we are separated from God. Now scientific are showing enough evidence which establish the benefits of spirituality as an integral part of human existence.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Since the early 20th century, a group of psychologists has been caustic in their condemnation of religion. They have branded faith as a form of mental disorder, a disorder that they predicted humanity would outgrow. Such thoughts have led to the predominance of the atheistic mentality in the psychology and other related fields and in medical science at large. ... The findings of the late 20th century show that the atheistic challenge to religion, made under the guise of science, has collapsed ... in such an emphatic way in psychology itself, the field where it once gathered great momentum. Thus modern science is slowly and painfully rediscovering what all the religious scriptures have been teaching since time immemorial: the living being and God are made for each other. When a living being rejects God, he is, by deliberate misuse of his God-given intelligence, stripping his own life of all meaning, direction, substance, peace and happiness.

Śrīpad Caitanya Caran das (BE E&TC) :
“Made For Each Other”
“The Spiritual Scientist” - Vol. 1. Issue 5.
Bhaktivedanta Academy for Culture and Education (BACE), Pune
http://ebooks.iskcondesiretree.info/pdf/Spiritual_Scientist/Spiritual_Scientist_-_Science_youth_spirituality_made_for_each_other.pdf
http://thespiritualscientist.com/