Be Mindful: Borderland mental health by the numbers
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Mental health can be an invisible struggle, with many suffering silence. By taking a closer look at the available statistics for mental health in the El Paso area, we get a general sense of how many people are actually effected by mental health challenges -- and access to care.
But mental health is not only a concern in El Paso. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says that one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness.
That means, nationwide, over 57 million people struggle with their mental health. Hispanics, Latinos, Whites, African Americans and LGBTQ+ individuals have high incident rates of mental illness.
Texas stands in the lower half of state rankings for mental illness and access to care, according to the nonprofit Mental Health America.
The Kaiser Family Foundation says more adults in Texas experience anxiety and depression symptoms than the national average in 2021. They also said that in 2022, many Texans felt they did not have access to mental health support to treat those symptoms.
Many people experiencing mental illness in the country are adults -- about 50 million Americans. The majority have mental struggles, only a small percentage experience a severe mental illness.
Mental illness is defined as a diagnosable disorder that is in the mind, emotional or behavioral.
MHA ranks Texas second of all states for mental illness. According to their figures, more than 3-point-6 million Texans have some sort of mental illness.
Texas also ranked third for substance abuse disorders in 2022. It was also third for thoughts about suicide.
According to MHA, over 812,000 Texans considered ending their own life at some point in the past year.
Looking at Emergence Health, who released their report for 2022 earlier this month, more than 28 thousand people were served by the organization last year.
More than 7500 were given behavioral health support by the organization. The majority identified themselves as females.
A little under 6,000 people received support for crisis or emergencies -- and a majority were young adults under 34.
Texas's 2-1-1 services reports show than in the past year, about 12 hundred calls have come in asking for mental health or addiction support in El Paso county.
The good news is that NAMI says almost half of Americans with mental illness did receive some kind of support in 2021.
A large percentage of Americans with intense or severe mental struggles did reach out for help.
Experts agree that mental health is a major topic -- and a real concern. National research shows that the average time between the onset of mental illness and getting treatment is 11 years.
That decade can be a very difficult time for many.
Support is close by, and there are a number of organizations in the Borderland dedicated to helping those with mental health challenges.
A full list can be found on the KVIA website, under the Be Mindful tab.
Avery Martinez is the Be Mindful Reporter for ABC-7, supported in part by Report for America. RFA helps provide reporters for under-covered topics across the country.
