Adequacy of Treatment for Serious Mental Illness in the United States
Philip S. Wang, MD, DrPH,
Olga Demler, MS and
Ronald C. Kessler, PhD
The authors are with the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Philip S. Wang is also with the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Philip S. Wang, MD, DrPH, Department of Health Care Policy, 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (e-mail: pwang{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu).
Objectives. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalenceand correlates of treatment for serious mental illness.
Methods. Data were derived from the National Comorbidity Survey,a cross-sectional, nationally representative household surveyassessing the presence and correlates of mental disorders andtreatments. Crude and adjusted likelihoods of receiving treatmentfor serious mental illness in the previous 12 months were calculated.
Results. Forty percent of respondents with serious mental illnesshad received treatment in the previous year. Of those receivingtreatment, 38.9% received care that could be considered at leastminimally adequate, resulting in 15.3% of all respondents withserious mental illness receiving minimally adequate treatment.Predictors of not receiving minimally adequate treatment includedbeing a young adult or an African American, residing in theSouth, being diagnosed as having a psychotic disorder, and beingtreated in the general medical sector.
Conclusions. Inadequate treatment of serious mental illnessis an enormous public health problem. Public policies and cost-effectiveinterventions are needed to improve both access to treatmentand quality of treatment.
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