According to the World Health Organization, four of the ten leading causes of disability in the United States and other developed countries are psychiatric disorders, which include major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
According to the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, "bipolar disorder is a serious brain disease that causes extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning. Different from normal mood states of happiness and sadness, symptoms of bipolar disorder can be severe and life threatening."
Bipolar disorder, which tends to run in families, typically emerges in adolescence or early adulthood and continues to flare up across the life course, disrupting work, school, family, and social life.
20 to 30 percent of people with bipolar disorder experience its onset before the age of 25.
According to the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, "In contrast to the normal emotional experiences of sadness, loss, or passing mood states, depression is persistent and can interfere significantly with an individual's ability to function."
Major depression usually begins between the ages of 15-30, also the age range of most graduate and undergraduate college students.
According to Kay Redfield Jamison, the first episodes of bipolar disorder, depressive illness, or schizophrenia are most likely to occur while college students are away from home for the first time and subject to new stresses; they may use alcohol or drugs more heavily, and their sleep patterns may be radically altered, which can trigger an episode.
Approximately 1 in 5 people with bipolar disorder eventually commit suicide. This is 30 times higher than the general population's suicide rate.
20-50 percent of people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at least once.
According to the National Institute on Mental Health, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide among persons age five and older.
According to the Center for Mental Health Services, out of 1,012,582 total hospital admissions in the U.S. in 1998, 261,903 (25.8 percent) were psychiatric admissions.
According to the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 23.9 percent of women will experience a depressive disorder in their lifetimes. 30.5 percent of women will experience an anxiety disorder.
28.1% of all adults in the United States had a mental illness of some type in 1990.
Research shows some correlation between artistic creativity and psychological disabilities. The following artists (writers, actors, musicians, etc.) have been diagnosed (some after death) as having bipolar disorder: Ned Beatty, Art Buchwald, Tim Burton, Francis Ford Coppola, Patty Duke, Charlie Pride, Axl Rose, Sting, Abbie Hoffman, Robert Lowell, Van Gogh.
The following artists have been diagnosed (some after death) as having clinical depression: Marlon Brando, Drew Carey, Jim Carrey, Dick Clark, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Janet Jackson, Billy Joel, Elton John, Deborah Norville, Neil Simon, Mike Wallace, Truman Capote, Michel Foucault, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Hesse, William James.
Other famous people with psychological disabilities: Buzz Aldrin, Oksana Baiul, Queen Elizabeth, Tipper Gore, George Stephanopoulos, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]