More Americans Admit Mental Health Problems

W A S H I N G T O N, July 2 -- About a third of Americans say they once felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown or had a mental health problem, according to a study released today that examines perceptions of psychological health in the United States over four decades.

“There’s been a real change in both Americans’ attitudes towardacknowledging mental health problems and in their willingness totalk to people about it,” said Ralph Swindle Jr., lead author ofthe study, which appears in the July issue of AmericanPsychologist.

In 1996, more than 26 percent of adults surveyed said they hadfelt an impending nervous breakdown, up from 19 percent in 1957, hesaid.

In addition, another 7 percent said they had experienced amental health problem, a question not asked in the earlier survey.Most of those questioned related mental illness to more seriouspsychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

The increase between the surveys could be caused by acombination of more people experiencing psychological problems anda lessening of the stigma associated with admitting to a nervousbreakdown, said Swindle of Indiana University.

Participants in the 1996 study saw a nervous breakdown asrelated to stress, depression and anxiety.

“The way the general population uses the term ‘nervousbreakdown’ is a mental collapse,” said co-author BernicePescosolido, also at Indiana University. “They were talking aboutgetting to a point in their lives where they couldn’t carry on.”

Those most likely to say they had anticipated a nervousbreakdown were young, white single mothers with low incomes and noinvolvement with organized religion, the researchers said.

As the percentage of Americans reporting a feeling of impendingbreakdown has increased over the last four decades, the cause ofthose feelings and the way they’re dealt with has also changed.

Changing Causes

In the 1957 survey, most people said health problems had causedthem to feel close to a breakdown. But in 1996, the most frequentlycited causes were relationship problems, including divorce,separation and other marital strains.