LETTERS: REPORT STRESSES MENTAL-HEALTH CARE

To the editor:

The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. David Satcher, recently issued the first-ever report on mental health. The report was a collaborative effort of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institute of Mental Health. Active participants in the planning of the report included researchers, educators, mental-health-care professionals, mental-health consumers and advocates. The report emphasizes that mental health, often overlooked among other health and medical issues, is absolutely fundamental to health as well as to the success and prosperity of the nation.

According to the report, mental disorders are real health conditions, and the consequences are devastating. Four of the 10 leading causes of disability are mental disorders, and mental disorders cause disruptions in education, family and personal relationship and productivity as well as a great deal of distress and dysfunction. Unrecognized or inadequately treated depression is a major contributing factor in suicide, the highest rate of which is found among older adult males. Mental disorders and mental-health problems appear in families of all social classes and of all backgrounds. No one is immune.

Fifteen percent of the adult population uses some sort of mental-health service each year. However, nearly half of all Americans who have a severe mental illness do not seek treatment. The continuing stigma attached to mental illness creates a barrier to treatment. Limited resources to pay for treatment and a complex and sometimes fragmented service-delivery system are also responsible for some of the obstacles faced by people who do seek treatment.

Massive evidence reviewed for the report confirms that effective treatment is available for mental illnesses. In most cases, there is a range of treatments including medications, psychotherapy and self-help groups. Treatment is available from primary-care and specialty mental-health-care providers, private and publicly supported agencies and often within education and social-service systems. This means an individual will be able to choose a particular approach to suit his or her own needs or preferences. Continuing progress in scientific research ensures that even more effective treatments for mental illnesses will become available.

The surgeon general's report challenges the nation to continue to broaden the scientific base, to overcome the stigma to seeking treatment, to improve public awareness of effective treatment, to ensure culturally sensitive and state-of-the-art treatment, to facilitate entry into treatment and to reduce financial barriers to treatment.

Lastly, the surgeon general encourages each of us to "seek help if you have a mental-health problem or think you have symptoms of a mental disorder."

CLAIRE LAFOON

Director of Education

Community Counseling Center

Cape Girardeau