· Mental Illness
· Addiction
· Schizophrenia
· Anxiety Disorders
· Depression
· Manic Depression
· Suicide
· Mental Illness
   Treatment
· Cost/Benefit of    Treatment

Costs

Recent estimates are that of a total of $587.7 billion spent each year on health in the US, only 11.4%, or $67 billion, went toward treating psychiatric disorders

This contrasts with the "indirect" cost to the US of untreated or inadequately treated psychiatric disorders: nearly $206 billion annually

Indirect costs of psychiatric disorders include: lost employment, suicides, accidents, social welfare programs, reduced productivity, crime

Benefits

If psychiatric disorders were covered in the same way as other illnesses by both private insurance policies and public plans (such as Medicare and Medicaid), and if people were actively encouraged to seek early, expert psychiatric care, there would be enormous cost savings. More importantly, tremendous misery could be abated and countless lives saved, that are now lost to suicide.