Suicides in the U.S. are rising, but at least younger Americans are more likely to seek help for depression and other problems that can lead to taking one’s life.
A survey released Tuesday by three mental health groups found that people younger than 54 are more likely to have seen a psychologist or other mental health provider than those who are older, underscoring the cultural shift in attitudes toward mental illness.
Health advocates and some members of Congress, most prominently Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., have been working to lift a longstanding stigma around mental illness. But the stigma remains especially pervasive among older Americans, who remember an era when it was more common to institutionalize the mentally ill and may resist getting help.
Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are more likely to have received treatment for a mental health condition compared with older age groups, according to the survey, which was commissioned by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. It did not study youths younger than 18.
“Just like we’ve seen the shift in attitudes through the generations on gay rights, we know when it comes to mental health, the younger generation is more likely to seek help,” said Christine Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “We are in a different time than what we had been in not that long ago.”
Despite some evidence that attitudes toward mental health are shifting, the suicide rate has been rising over the past decade, now standing at 12.6 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the latest figures. About one-third of survey respondents said they know someone who has died by suicide and a quarter knew someone who has attempted suicide.
Most people know that depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are major risk factors for whether one might commit suicide. But the survey found fewer than half of the respondents understood that anxiety disorders also can increase risk.
And then there are other big, systemic problems that need addressing, experts say. Seven years ago, Congress passed a law requiring health insurers to cover mental healthcare the same way they cover physical healthcare. But insurers have been slow to comply, and many health advocates complain that regulators haven’t done enough to enforce the law.
And there’s been more attention lately on the high number of mentally ill currently housed in U.S. prisons, where they may not have access to the treatment or counseling they need.
“The judicial system has become a kind of de facto mental health system,” said Mark Pollack, president of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. “Literally thousands of incarcerated individuals have significant mental health issues and often a lack of access to adequate mental health services.”
