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Show i I Mental Illness: Number One Health Problem In the United States and Still Growing Emotional problems are the number one health problem facing Americans in the United States today. Without good emotional health, a person's physical health or material wealth means very little. With emotional health and positive feelings about one's self almost any stress life has to offer can be endured and the best made of life's many complex situations. Most doctors will tell you that a large percentage (20-70 percent) of their patients have significant emotional complications compli-cations to their physical complaints. In many cases these people are coming into the doctor's clinic actually because of emotional distress and use a vague physical complaint as an excuse to come and talk to the doctor. Some statistics may be helpful in illustrating the seriousness of the widespread emotional distress which exists in this country. An important fact is that about 50 of the hospital beds in this country are designated for the treatmewnt of acute and chronic psychiatric psychiat-ric illnesses such as depression, depres-sion, psychosis, drug abuse, personality problems and so on. Suicide is on the rise In this country and according to some figures five million Americans living today have had or currently have serious suicidal problems. It ranks third as the cause of death in children and young adults. Murder is on the increase dramatically, having gone up 60 in the years between 1950 and 1969. Cirrhosis of the liver, a disease caused to a large extent by alcohol and drug abuse has stress can have a psychotic break or can under the right conditions either take their own life or the life of someone else around them. Alcoholism and drug abuse are on the increase with teenage alcoholism alcohol-ism especially increasing at an alarming rate in this country. Some studies done in both rural and urban areas have shown that 30 percent of the population at any given time have serious symptoms of emotional distress. Another 30 percent have moderate symptoms symp-toms while the remaining 40 percent are evenly divided between having moderate to mild symptoms or none at all. So we can see that this is indeed a huge problem of tremendous social and economic econo-mic importance to the citizens of the United States. There are many efforts being made to meet these problems, both on a professional profes-sional level and by concerned lay persons. There are really three levels to this problem-solving problem-solving effort, the first being that of treating those people who are already seriously ill. A good deal of professional time is taken up with this effort and gone up 67 in that same period. One out of four marriages ends in divorce and half of the remaining three-fourths three-fourths suffer very serious problems during their span. One out of ten children in schools needs attention from a professional for problems of hyperactivity or acting out. Such treatment can produce a much happier, better behaved child. One per cent of the population of the United States is actively psychotic "(insane" in old terminology) at any given time and another 5 are considered to be in the at-risk : K f Fdur Corners j : s Mental Health . : ' C "A HUMAN SERVICES CENTER" : (3) By Richard E. Shanteau, M.D. i : T W Clinical Director category, suffering with serious ser-ious problems which can produce a psychosis at any time. Everyone given enough is where the hospital beds are required. The second level of effort is to find and treat the very early stages of emotional distress in people in the attempt to prevent them from becoming more seriously ill. The third and most important level of this effort being made on a nationwide scale is to prevent or reduce the formation forma-tion of any illness in our populations by educating people peo-ple towards good mental health practices in the home, schools, various organizations in the communities and by treating children early m their emotional troubles, thereby reducing the liklihood of a chronically disturbed adult. This effort is being carried out in a variety of ways throughout the country. Traditionally Tra-ditionally the mental health care of the citizens was left to the general physician and the state hospital system which merely housed the more seriously ill people for years and years at a time. In recent years many new tools have been found in the war against emotional illness and are being applied both in the hospitals and the community. The basic tools now include some very powerful drugs which effectively treat some of the depressive and psychotic problems that people have and the idea that people must be treated in a humanitarian fashion. Recently the courts have legislated the ideas into law that we must provide the best treatment available to emotionally disturbed people. In m.any cases this has meant treatment in the community instead of in the hospitals and has also produced a vast improvement of the care given in these large state institutions. institu-tions. The state hospital populations have been reduced reduc-ed dramatically with the bulk of the care of the citizens of the United States now resting with the community mental health centers such as the Four Comers Mental Health Center in this region along with a variety of public and private mental health practitioners. This article marks the beginning begin-ning of an ongoing education effort for the citizens of this community about the problems prob-lems of the emotionally disturbed dis-turbed and what tools and approaches are available for treating these problems. These articles shall appear on a weekly basis in The Times-Independent. It should be mentioned that if you have some specific questions about these articles or about any problems you or your family or friends are having you may j call one of our offices in the area. These may be found in ' the phone book under the county listings as Four Corners Cor-ners Mental Health Center. Also any of the physicians or the hospitals in the area can put you in touch with the clinic. In Moab our office is upstairs in the Arches Building Buil-ding on Center Street. ( Richard E. Shanteau, M.D. Clinical Director |