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Report: State Beset With Mental Illness, Lack of Treatment

mental health
Kaiser Health News
/
Wikipedia Commons

Oklahoma is among five states that struggle the most with high rates of mental illness and a lack of access to treatment, according to a national report released Wednesday

Oklahoma ranks 48th for the number of adults suffering with mental illness and access to care, and 43rd for youth in the same categories, according to a report from Mental Health America, one of the largest mental-health advocacy groups in the country. The low ranking means a state has more residents suffering with mental illness and less access to treatment.

The ranking includes all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Other states that consistently found themselves at the bottom of the rankings are Washington, New Mexico, Mississippi and Arizona.

Oklahoma especially struggles when it comes to adults with mental illness.

About 22 percent, or 609,000 Oklahomans, have a mental illness, the second highest rate in the nation, behind only Utah.

About 10 percent, or 276,000, Oklahomans suffer from an addiction, the ninth-highest rate in the nation. 

Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on important public-policy issues facing the state. More Oklahoma Watch content can be found at www.oklahomawatch.org.
Oklahoma Watch
Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on important public-policy issues facing the state. More Oklahoma Watch content can be found at www.oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma also has the fifth-highest percentage of residents with serious thoughts of suicide. About 4 percent, or 122,000 Oklahomans, had serious thoughts of suicide.

One positive result was that Oklahoma climbed out of the bottom 10 states when it comes to individual categories looking at youths suffering from mental illness. 

Oklahoma ranked 38th for percentage of youths with emotional behavior and developmental issues, 26th for share of youths dependent on drugs, 28th for youths who have suffered at least one depressive episode, and 10th for youths with serious thoughts of suicide.

Overall, though, Oklahoma ranked 43rd in youths suffering from mental illness and the access to treatment.

Oklahoma Watch is a non-profit organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on important public-policy issues facing the state. Oklahoma Watch is non-partisan and strives to be balanced, fair, accurate and comprehensive. The reporting project collaborates on occasion with other news outlets. Topics of particular interest include poverty, education, health care, the young and the old, and the disadvantaged.
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