Mental health statistics:
- Mental health disorders make up 4 of the leading 10 reasons for disability worldwide within established market economies, and include: bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
- Approximately 26 % of adult Americans suffer from a mental disorder which is diagnosable within any given year.
- A lot of individuals experience more than just one mental disorder at a time. For example, depressive illnesses can often occur together with anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
- In the region of 9.5 % American adults will suffer from a depressive illness every year.
- Women are almost two times as likely to experience major depression compared to men, although women and men are equally as likely to suffer from bipolar disorder.
- Even though major depression can manifest at all ages, the mid 20s is the average age of onset.
- The average age of onset for a 1st bipolar disorder manic episode is during the early 20s , and bipolar disorder affects about 2.6 % adult Americans in a given year.
- Over 90 % of individuals who commit suicide have got a mental disorder which is diagnosable, most often a a substance abuse disorder or a depressive disorder.
- Men commit suicide 4 times more than women, but women attempt suicide 2 to 3 times more than men.
- In the U.S., the highest rates of suicide tend to be in Caucasian men over the age of 85, but suicide is in addition one of the main causes of death in adults and adolescents aged 15 to 24.
- About 2.4 million individuals suffer from schizophrenia in America.
- In the majority of cases, schizophrenia 1st appears in men in their late teens or early 20s, and in women, in their 20s or in their early 30s.
- An estimated 18.1 % of individuals in this age group have an anxiety disorder in a given year. Anxiety disorders consist of: obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias and generalized anxiety disorder.
- Panic disorder normally manifests in early adulthood or late adolescence.
- The first symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder often start during adolescence or childhood.
- Approximately 30 % of Vietnam veterans suffered post-traumatic stress disorder at some time after the war.
- Generalized anxiety disorder can start anytime, although the risk is highest somewhere between childhood and middle age.
- People with obsessive-compulsive disorder can often have problems with drug and alcohol abuse or eating or depressive disorders.
- Social phobia generally starts in childhood or adolescence.
The Zung depression scale
The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale is a widely used depression screening tool used to rate the level of depression in patients with diagnosed depressive disorders.
The Zung Depression Scale is provided as a self-administered online depression test. There are 20 multiple choice questions which are rated on a scale of 1 to 4 based on 4 different answers.
The majority of people that have depression rate between 50 to 69, while a rating of 70 and more is an indication of severe depression. The ratings provide a general indication of depression severity, but the Zung Depression Scale cannot take the place of a trained healthcare provider for confirmation of a depression diagnosis. The Zung Depression Scale can also be a useful tool for tracking changes in the severity of depression.
The reliability of the Zung Depression Scale has been proven in several studies to be adequate in determining the severity of depression.
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