RESEARCH WEEKLY: November Research Roundup
By Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq
Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a time to celebrate the harvest of accomplishments this past year and express gratitude to those around us. In honor of Thanksgiving, this week’s blog includes data points from an analysis of the bounty of data released last month from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). I hope these data points can aid your advocacy for people with severe mental illness as we enter the new year.
DATA POINTS of the month
The below datapoints are based on an analysis from SAMHSA’s 2020 data from its annual mental health and substance use survey, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
One in five individuals with serious mental illness live below the federal poverty line
The intersection of poverty and serious mental illness contributes to many of the negative outcomes associated with lack of treatment, such as homelessness and criminal justice system involvement. According to the 2020 NSDUH data, 22% of people with serious mental illness live below the federal poverty line, meaning living with an income of less than $12,880 a year.
Only one-third of individuals with serious mental illness are employed full-time
Part of the reason for the high rate of poverty for individuals with serious mental illness is due to the low employment rate among this population.
11% of people with serious mental illness are uninsured
Poverty and low employment rates contribute to lack of insurance coverage among individuals with serious mental illness. Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, more than 10% of people with serious mental illness do not have health insurance. Likely contributing to these numbers are the 12 remaining states that have not expanded Medicaid.
35.6% of individuals with serious mental illness received no treatment in 2020
More than one-third of individuals with serious mental illness received treatment for their mental illness in 2020. That means that they received no medication, inpatient or outpatient services to address their mental illness the entire year. Additionally, half of individuals with serious mental illness had a perceived unmet need for mental health treatment, indicating many more individuals did not receive the treatment they felt they needed.
1.6 million individuals with serious mental illness did not receive treatment because they thought they could handle the problem on their own
There are many reasons why an individual with serious mental illness may not receive treatment, including not being able to afford the cost or lack of transportation to the services. According to the SAMHSA data, 1.6 million individuals with serious mental illness did not receive treatment because they thought they could handle the problem on their own.
929,000 individuals with serious mental illness received inpatient mental health treatment in 2020
According to the SAMHSA data, almost one million individuals with serious mental illness received some form of inpatient mental health treatment in 2020.
363,000 individuals with serious mental illness on probation
In 2020, there were an estimated 363,000 individuals with serious mental illness on probation, an often-overlooked metric indicating involvement with the criminal justice system. An additional 73,000 individuals with serious mental illness were on parole or supervised release.
