Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.
The article also mentions that '[a]ccording to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 1 in four U.S. adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.'
The study also looked at anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and other non-personality disorders. Personality disorders are especially difficult to treat, because they are complex.
College counseling programmes need to really work at reaching those in need. Also, since those 18-25 tend to work in lower-paying jobs, it is also important that programmes be made available to young people outside of colleges who may no longer be on their parents' insurance and otherwise could not afford treatment. Let's face it--psychiatric treatment is expensive, even with insurance. If you meet a counselor every other week even with a $10 co-pay, that's $260 a year, plus the cost of medications. Without insurance it would be more like $75-150 a session. Treatment of the young is also important because untreated mental disorders tend to worsen as we age, plus this is a time when students and others are establishing themselves in terms of education and career.
I am fortunate to have access to decent health care--but even I struggle with medical costs. This coming year my co-pays have doubled, so I'm having about $3000 taken out of my pay for my flexible spending account. Much of that has to do with mental health. That's about 13% of my salary at the two jobs. I wish I'd had access to it when I was younger--if I had been treated for my various issues at an earlier age I might have succeeded in getting a PhD in mediaeval history like I planned. My anxiety at doing the oral exam/thesis defence was so great, but I didn't realise how bad it was until I was put on medication once it was too late to use my credits for the degree. I have a mix of illnesses that really make my life difficult sometimes, but treatment has helped immensely. My anxiety, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are much improved. I'm also had a year-long intensive group dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder and am on medicine for bipolar II disorder. Throw in medicine for attention-deficit disorder, too, although I don't know if the researchers in this study would consider that a mental disorder. I still have a lot to deal with in terms of childhood issues and other topics for counseling, but my brain chemistry is much better. :) Anyway, you can see I have a personal perspective on this issue.
(I know, I sound absolutely crazy if you go by my diagnoses. But hey, I'm what they call 'medically managed', and I'm working and paying taxes and all that, plus I'm not living on the street. Yet, anyway. I know I've had some close calls on that front. My point is there's a stigma attached to mental illness, but people being treated can lead productive lives. It's when they go off their medicine or stop counseling that they tend to go off the deep end before they know it.)
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