Recessions Are Not Good for Your Mind

Posted on Nov 18, 2010

Flickr/Jeremy Burgin (CC-BY-SA)

According to the government agency with the fun acronym SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2009 was no party in terms of adult Americans’ mental health. One in five adults, in fact, suffered from some kind of mental illness, and it just might be the case that external circumstances such as relentless unemployment and health care issues could have played a role.  —KA

Reuters via MSNBC:
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, said the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA.

The rate, slightly higher than the previous 19.5 percent figure, reflected increasing depression, especially among the unemployed, SAMHSA, part of the National Institutes of Health, said.

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