The high economic toll of mental illness



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Mental disorders are estimated to be around $ 2.5 trillion each year – and those costs are increasing.

Unlike costly physical illnesses such as cancer, where expenses are largely hospital-based, they are often indirect, such as not being able to work.

Only 40 percent of adults who have a mental illness reported in their prior 12 months, according to Judith Bass, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This number drops to below 15 percent in low- and middle-income countries.

"With mental and behavioral health, the consequences are not even getting treatment," Bass said.

Treatment options may be limited to a shortage of trained mental health workers or the stigma mental illness often carries.

"The stigma of mental illness is probably as big a problem as mental illness itself," said Patrick Corrigan, a professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. "And despite how educated we are, it's pretty good evidence it's getting worse."

Corrigan said another reason why mental illness can be so costly is because it often affects them in their prime working years.

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Follow Tracey Samuelson at @tdsamuelson.

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