STATES CHRONICLE – In the US, more and more people are confronting with psychological distress. Based on the new study developed by the NYU Langone Medical Center, more Americans are currently suffering from psychological distress. Scientists have examined data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and established that 3.4% of all adults in America have severe mental illnesses, known as SPD.
In the past, only 3% of the population was affected by SPD
Serious psychological distress (SPD) affects more than 8.3 million Americans. This particular condition is known to mix sadness with restlessness and worthlessness to determine the individual to feel overwhelmed with grief, casting a shadow over his or her well-being. In the past, SPD affected only 3% or even less of the whole population.
These findings are based on the information provided by the National Health Interview Survey and were published in the Psychiatric Services journal. Approximately 200,000 Americans with ages ranging from 18 to 64 were included in this survey. The participants who were analyzed pertained to different states, coming from different social groups and having different ethnicity.
Now, over 8.3 million Americans suffer from severe psychological distress
Judith Weissman, the lead study investigator, and a Ph. D. research manager in the department of medicine of the NYU stated that according to the information gathered during the study, researchers estimate that millions of Americans have a decreased level of emotional functioning such that it leads to an impaired quality of life.
Weissman also argued that their new study might help scientists figure out why and how the suicide rate in the US increased to 43,000 people every year. The survey also unveiled that the access to health services for SPD patients is no longer what it used to be, being a deteriorated stage. Weissman pointed out that even if the analysis developed by her and her team does not reveals palpable reasons why health services for mental illnesses are impaired, it might happen due to a shortage of professional staff or maybe because the increased prices of the treatments are not covered by the health insurance of patients.
Other reasons could also include the great recession which is a topic that deserves to be further investigated by specialists. The NYU Langone research team has compared the symptoms of SPD across nine years, and they were able to estimate that 1 out of 10 distressed Americans in 2014 still did not obtain health insurance which could have offered them access to a counselor or a psychiatrist.
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