Past Year Mental Disorders among Adults in the United States: Results from the 2008–2012 Mental Health Surveillance Study

Excerpt

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is one of the primary sources of data for population-based estimates of mental health indicators in the United States. From 2008 to 2012, SAMHSA conducted the Mental Health Surveillance Study (MHSS) clinical study, in which clinicians administered semistructured diagnostic interviews to a subsample of NSDUH adult respondents to assess the presence of selected mental disorders. The MHSS clinical study was primarily designed for use in the development of a statistical model to apply to the full NSDUH sample that would generate estimated percentages of serious mental illness among civilian, noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 years or older at national and state levels. In addition, data from the MHSS clinical study also can be used to estimate the percentage and number of adults affected by each specific mental disorder. This report provides the first release of national estimates of specific mental disorders based on these clinical interviews, both for all civilian, noninstitutionalized adults as well as by sociodemographic characteristics such as age and gender. Specific disorders covered include mood disorders (major depressive disorder, bipolar I disorder, and/or dysthymic disorder), anxiety disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, agoraphobia without history of panic disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and/or generalized anxiety disorder), eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia nervosa), substance use disorders (alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, illicit drug abuse, and/or illicit drug dependence), intermittent explosive disorder, adjustment disorder, as well as psychotic symptoms (delusions and/or hallucinations).