Twelve-Month Use of Mental Health Services in the United States

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Abstract
Recent reports from the surgeon general1 and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health2 stress the importance of improving mental health treatment in the United States. Accurate general population data on current mental health treatments are needed for policy planning in this area. The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study provided the first such data in the 1980s, finding that only 19% of respondents with recent DSM-III3 mental disorders received any treatment in the 12 months before interview.4 A decade later, the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) found that 25% of respondents with 12-month DSM-III-R5 disorders received treatment in the 12 months before the interview.6