A study published in the American Psychologist, July 2000, reports that in 1996, 26.4% of surveyed (N = 1,444) Americans reported experiencing an impending nervous breakdown, up from 18.9% in 1957, and from 20.9% in 1976, an increase which could not, according to the study's authors, be accounted for by demographic changes in the U.S. population. An additional 7% of surveyed individuals in the 1996 study reported having had a mental health problem, resulting in a total of about a third of respondents reporting having had some sort of mental health concern. In response to feelings of impending nervous breakdown, compared to earlier survey respondents, those surveyed in 1996 more frequently reported utilizing informal social supports and nonmedical psychosocial services, while decreasing their use of physicians.

The authors focus their discussion of the results on whether this increase in reported mental health problems represents an attitude change on the part of the public, or signifies a real increase in mental illness among Americans. In addition, the authors note that the trend away from consulting with primary care physicians for mental health problems and the increasing use of informal supports and nonmedical specialists "appears to be at odds with trends in the practices of the mental health system. Physicians are now expected to play a more prominent role in mental health care, yet it seems that Americans are less likely to turn to their physicians with their mental health concerns. The American public's views and the health care industry's mental health care practices appear to be heading in opposite directions."

You can read the entire article at: http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/amp557740.html

Responses to Nervous Breakdowns in America Over a 40-Year Period: Mental Health Policy Implications,

Authors:

Ralph Swindle, Jr., Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research;

Kenneth Heller, Indiana University Bloomington;

Bernice Pescosolido, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research;

Saeko Kikuzawa, Indiana University Bloomington;

American Psychologist, July 2000 Vol. 55, No. 7, 740-749.