In 2020, more than one in five adults received mental health treatment

(HealthDay)—In 2020, 20.3 percent of adults had received any mental health treatment in the previous 12 months, according to an October data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Emily P. Terlizzi, M.P.H., and Tina Norris, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, described the percentage of U.S. adults who had taken prescription medication for their mental health or received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the last 12 months using data from the National Health Interview Survey.

The researchers found that 20.3 percent of adults had received any mental health treatment in the previous 12 months in 2020, including 16.5 and 10.1 percent who had taken prescription medication and received counseling or therapy, respectively. Compared with men, women were more likely to have received any mental health treatment. Non-Hispanic White adults were more likely to have received any mental health treatment compared with non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Asian adults (24.4, 15.3, 12.6, and 7.7 percent, respectively). The percentage of adults who had taken medication for their mental health increased, and the percentage who had received counseling or therapy decreased as the level of urbanization decreased.

"While the percentage of adults who had taken medication for their mental health increased with age, the percentage who had received counseling or therapy decreased with age," the authors write.

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