Nearly 1.2 Billion People Live With Mental Disorders Globally

In this ZeroHedge article, Naveen Athrappully reports on a new Lancet study estimating that nearly 1.2 billion people worldwide were living with mental disorders in 2023, underscoring the scale of a global mental-health crisis that has worsened dramatically since 1990.

• The study estimated 1.17 billion people globally suffered from mental disorders in 2023, a 95.5% increase from 1990.
• Researchers examined 12 categories of mental disorders across 204 countries and territories, including anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.
• Mental disorders accounted for an estimated 171 million disability-adjusted life-years in 2023, meaning 171 million years of healthy life were lost due to illness, disability, or death tied to mental-health conditions.
• Mental disorders made up 6.1% of all global disability-adjusted life-years in 2023, rising from the 12th leading cause in 1990 to the fifth.
• Anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia were identified as the largest contributors to the global mental-disorder burden.
• Women were estimated to be more affected than men, with 620 million females living with a mental disorder compared with 552 million males.
• The study found that teenagers ages 15 to 19 were disproportionately affected, a troubling finding given how important those years are for education, work, relationships, and long-term development.
• High-income regions such as Western Europe and Australasia showed some of the highest mental-disorder burden rates, while major increases were also reported in parts of South Asia and western sub-Saharan Africa.
• The article also notes CDC data showing that 23% of U.S. adults live with a mental-health condition, while nearly 6% have a serious condition that significantly interferes with daily life.
• The study was funded by the Gates Foundation, the University of Queensland, and Queensland Health.

Read the full story: https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/nearly-12-billion-people-live-mental-disorders-globally-study