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VIRTUALISATION NIMH study finds billions lost in wages from mental problems
VIRTUALISATION NIMH study finds billions lost in wages from mental problems | NIMH study finds billions lost in wages from mental problems |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Tuesday, 13 May 2008 | |
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Mental illness is the term that refers to various physiological or psychological disorders that afflict humans, which is associated with abnormalities not usually associated with what is considered normal behavior of the general populace. When such mental illness is severe and/or long-term it is often classified as serious mental illness (SMI). SMIs include a range of mental illnesses from mood disorders and anxiety disorders, to thoughts of suicide. Specifically, the researchers in the NIMH study defined an SMI as any mental problem that causes a person to not be able to work for at least thirty days over a period of one year. The results of the study (“Individual and Societal Effects of Mental Disorders on Earnings in the United States: Results From the National Comorbidity Survey Replication”) is published in the May 7, 2008 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. The authors of the NIMH study included: Ronald C. Kessler, Steven Heeringa, Matthew D. Lakoma, Maria Petukhova, Agnes E. Rupp, Michael Schoenbaum, Philip S. Wang, and Alan M. Zaslavsky. The study looked at 5,000 subjects in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 64 years, within the survey called National Comorbidity Survey Replication. The survey was conducted between 2001 and 2003. Data for the NIMH study was taken from the year 2002. The survey selected from a nationally representative sample of people in the United States in order to measure the overall mental health of U.S. adults. According to the NIMH study, six (6) percent of U.S. adults have a serious mental illness (SMI). The study found that people with SMIs earn at least 40% less than people with good mental health. Specifically, the study found that persons afflicted with SMI earned, on average, US$22,550 per year. However, people (without SMIs) in good mental health earned, on average, US$38,850 per year. The researchers state that they made mental illnesses responsible for 75% of the difference in earnings. The other 25% of the earnings’ difference was attributed to the possibility that a SMI person did not even work during the year, and, thus, did not earn any money. These people (such as those with schizophrenia and autism), the study stated, were, for the most part, not included in the figure (over $193 million) stated by the group as the amount lost per year based on mental illness. Ronald Kessler was the lead author of the NIMH study. He states that $193.2 billion is a conservative figure--it is most likely much higher--and backs up his claim. Please check out the next page. |
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