MENTAL DISORDERS

* Addiction
* Agoraphobia
* Anxiety
* Depression Disorders
* Violent, Impulsive Behavior
* Schizophrenia

Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 22.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older -- about one in five adults -- suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, notes the National Institute for Mental Health. When applied to the 1998 U.S. Census residential population estimate, this figure translates to 44.3 million people. In addition, four of the ten leading causes of disability in the United States and other developed countries are mental disorders -- major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time.

Addiction
Many people view drug abuse and addition as strictly a social problem. Parents, teens, older adults, and other members of the community tend to characterize people who take drugs as morally weak or as having criminal tendencies. They believe that drug abusers and addicts should be able to stop taking drugs if they are willing to change their behavior.

These myths have not only stereotyped those with drug-related problems, but also their families, their communities, and the health care professionals who work with them. Drug abuse and addiction comprise a public health problem that affects many people and has wide-ranging social consequences.

Addiction does begin with drug abuse when an individual makes a conscious choice to use drugs, but addiction is not just a lot of drug use. Recent scientific research provides overwhelming evidence that not only do drugs interfere with normal brain functioning creating powerful feelings of pleasure, but they also have long-term effects on brain metabolism and activity. At some point, changes occur in the brain that can turn drug abuse into addiction, a chronic, relapsing illness. Those addicted to drugs suffer from a compulsive drug craving and usage and cannot quit by themselves.

Holistic treatment can have a profound effect not only on drug abusers, but on society as a whole by significantly improving social and psychological functioning, decreasing related criminality and violence and reducing the spread of AIDS. It can also dramatically reduce the costs to society of drug use.

Anxiety
Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias (social phobia, agoraphobia, and specific phobia).

* Approximately 19.1 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or about 13.3 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder.

* Anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with depressive disorders, eating disorders, or substance abuse.

* Many people have more than one anxiety disorder.

* Women are more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder. Approximately twice as many women as men suffer from panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobia, though about equal numbers of women andmen have obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia.

Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms. Approximately 3.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or about 2.2 percent of people in this age group in a given year have agoraphobia.

Depression
Depressive disorders encompass major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is included because people with this illness have depressive episodes as well as manic episodes.

* Approximately 18.8 millon American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder.

* Nearly twice as many women (12.0 percent) as men (6.6percemnt) are affected by a depressive disorder each year. These figures translate to 12.4 million women and 6.4 million men in the United States.

* Depressive disorders may be appearing earlier in life in people born in recent decades compared to thepast.

* Depressive disorders often co-occur with anxiety disorders and substance abuse.

Postpartum Depression
Having a baby is a joyous time for most women. After childbirth, though, many mothers feel sad, afraid, angry or anxious. Most new mothers have these feelings in a mild form called postpartum blues. Sometimes these feelings are called "baby blues." Postpartum blues almost always go away in a few days.

About 10 percent of new mothers have a greater problem called postpartum depression. Postpartum depression lasts longer and is more intense. It often requires counseling and treatment. Postpartum depression can occur after any birth, not just the first.

Schizophrenia
* Approximately 2.2 million American adults, or about 1.1 percent of the population age 18 and older in a given year, have schizophrenia.

* Schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency.

* Schizophrenia often first appears earlier in men, usually in their late teens or early twenties, than in women, who are generally affected in their twenties or early thirties.

Violent, Impulsive Behavior
Spousal abuse, criminal activity and other examples of violent, impulsive behavior can be linked to alcohol abuse, environmental pollutions (especially industrial chemicals such as some pesticides and heavy metals), and genetics.

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