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Karlee Thueson

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010

18 April 2018

The Cost of Mental Disorders

Mental health disorders are classified in a wide range of mental health conditions. These

would include depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and addictive behaviors.

Mental health disorders are becoming diagnosed more frequently in the United States. One in

every five adults suffer from a mental illness. That is 48.3 million people just in the United

States (NAMI). Mental illnesses are associated with people’s ability to function in social, work,

or family activities. Some mental illnesses have cures others however do not. Whether the

disorder is curable or incurable, the money spent on the disorders can be high. People can exhibit

mental health issues at periodic times throughout their lives or find that their mental health

illness occurs their whole lives. With some disorders the simple need is medication

management, but with more severe disorders it can entail facilities, medication, doctors visits,

aides, supplies, etc. Over time all of those expenses added up could possible leave the people

with no money. In the past decade, strides have been made to better understand mental health

issues/disorders and remove the stigma of mental illness while looking at the cause, symptoms,

treatment, and recovery of having the illnesses. But sadly all of these areas come with a high

cost.
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Current statistics for mental health issues in the United States show the prevalence of

these illness/disorders. 1-5 adults experience severe mental health issues. 1-5 American youth

experience severe mental health issues (The

State). Including all ages mental illness

affects every age group. There is not one age

group that deals with it more than another

age group.

Homeless shelters deal with 26% of

the total cases of mental health. State prisons

see 20% of people who state they have had a

“recent history of mental health illness”.

70% of the juvenile justice system have had

mental health issues. 37% of students who

are diagnosed with mental health disorders

and are enrolled in special education classes

drop out of school further burdening other

systems (NAMI). It is difficult to quantify

the cost of these statistics from patients who

are treated at home to those that are a part of

many of our local state and community

facilities.
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For most of those seeking treatment, only half of the people that are actually diagnosed

receive ongoing treatment. If treatment is not available most of these people are at a higher risk

of suicide. Suicide is in the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. 90% of children

who commit suicide have a mental health disorder. This is a really significant statistic and

shows that with treatment the amount of child suicides could be greatly reduced. This would

help the pain and anguish that families feel when a child dies. And each day 18-22 year old

veterans die from suicide due to mental health disorders (Kamal). If society could find a way to

help treat mental disorders or find a way so everyone receives the help that they need, the

number of suicides would go down.

Lowering treatment costs comes from early detection and treatment. One way that to

some people are doing treatments for mental health are through art therapy. Lesley Uttley

describes art therapy as“specific branch of treatment ... which includes drama therapy and music

therapy” (2). The financial cost of treatment alone is difficult to calculate. Serious mental health

issues cost America 193.2 billion dollars in lost earnings. From 1996-2010 prescriptions for

mental health medications went up 246.4 million dollars (Insel 663). Billions of dollars go into

the treatment of mental illness. It is difficult to calculate exactly what each person pays to refill

there medication because every person is different with what medications they are prescribed or

what brands they use or even how often they go through the prescribed bottle. According to ​Dr.

John Grohol, Psy.D. he stated:

“Medications are challenging. There are still many name brand medications.

Although insurance might be picking up a lot of the costs, there’s a large copay,

or the insurance company will pay for the generic and you need the name brand,
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or its not in their formulary. When there’s a generic available, it doesn’t seem to

make a difference to most patients who have to switch” (Babakian).

There has been a great debate in America over the last few years related to health care

costs. The 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, signed a bill in 2010 called the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010.​ This bill was put into place to have the

citizens of America have the ability to afford good quality health insurance and thereby health

care. It provides affordable health care plans at online marketplaces. It brings aid to Americans

who suffer without health care, but unfortunately most of American who suffer the long term

effects of mental health issues and need treatment are under SSDI, Social Security Disability

Insurance. SSDI helps those who cannot work due to their disability and provides monthly

monetary aide. Currently approximately 9 million Americans receive SSDI. As of 2013 35.2%

of SSDI recipients qualify for help due to mental health conditions (Social Security). Besides

SSDI many people with mental health issues also receive public housing assistance and food

stamps. There are multiple benefits that can help people who do not have the money to provide

for themselves. The government has set up systems to help those that are in. All of those benefits

help in providing a cheaper cost for the people that are in need, but they still cost them money

and for some they might not have the money to afford it.

There is a lack of professional help with psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers,

counselors and psych nurses. Ratios are six times the patient load to one clinician. There should

be a better ratio between patients to clinicians. This would better improve the health care system.

Improving the health care system would help the economic burdens that mental health and

illnesses bring (Xu 7). To do this governments should put a greater priority in mental health by
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improving the health care systems. In an interview by an anonymous teacher she stated that most

of the kids in her class that have mental illnesses or disorders do not receive the resources to help

with their challenges ( Anonymous). This is a problem. There needs to be a priority to fund the

help that kids need. A side benefit of this could be the amount of child suicides would be greatly

reduced since 90% of child suicides have a mental disorder.

Not many people focus on the mental illness or mental disorders. In reality this subject is

not very common over the world today. There needs to be an awareness of this issue and

something needs to be done.

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Works Cited

Anonymous Interviewee

Babakian, Genine. “How Much Does Mental Health Care Cost? Part 4: Finding Affordable

Psychiatric Medications.” ​Clear Health Costs​, 4 Feb. 2016, 5 April 2018.

Insel, Thomas R. ​Assessing the Economic Costs of Serious Mental Illness​. American Journal of

Psychiatry, June 2008, 5 April 2018.

Kamal, Rabah. “What Are the Current Costs and Outcomes Related to Mental Health and

Substance Abuse Disorders?” ​Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker​, 31 July 2017, 5

April 2018.

“NAMI.” ​NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness​. 2018. 5 April 2018.

“Social Security Income (SSI) and Social Securit Disability Insurance (SSDI) | NAMI: National

Alliance on Mental Illness.” ​NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness​, 2018, 5 April

2018.

“The State of Mental Health in America.” ​Mental Health America​, 18 Dec. 2017, 5 April 2018.

Uttley, Lesley, et al. "The Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of Group Art Therapy for People with

Non-Psychotic Mental Health Disorders: A Systematic Review and Cost-Effectiveness

Analysis." BMC Psychiatry, vol. 15, 07 July 2015. 5 April 2018.

Xu, Junfang, et al. "The Economic Burden of Mental Disorders in China, 2005-2013:

Implications for Health Policy." BMC Psychiatry, vol. 16, 11 May 2016, p. 137. 5 April

2018.
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