One in five Americans experienced some sort of mental illness in
2010, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration. About 5 percent of
Americans have suffered from such severe mental illness that it
interfered with day-to-day school, work or family. Women were
more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness than men (23
percent of women versus 16.9 percent of men), and the rate of
mental illness was more than twice as likely in young adults (18
to 25) than people older than 50. About 11.4 million adult
Americans suffered from severe mental illness in the past year
and 8.7 million adults contemplated serious thoughts of suicide.
Among them, more than 2 million made suicide plans and about 1
million attempted suicide. Nearly 2 million teens, or 8 percent
of the adolescent population, experienced a major depressive
episode in the past year. The research defined a major episode
as at least a two-week period when a person is depressed with a
loss of interest or plea