The Treatment Advocacy Center addresses the crisis of the 8.8 million people who suffer from severe mental illness and who are too often abandoned by our nation’s mental health system. Our work helps end the decades of failed policies whose consequences touch every part of our daily lives.
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Prevalence and Treatment Rates*
- 8.8 million adults with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder mental illness (3.4% of the population)+
5.9 million – approximate number with severe bipolar disorder (2.3% of the population), 51% untreated+
2.8 million – approximate number with schizophrenia (1.1% of the population), 40% untreated+ - 4.2 million – approximate number untreated in any given year (1.6% of the population)+
Consequences of Non-treatment*
- 169,000 homeless people with serious mental illness**
- 383,000 inmates with mental illness in jails and prisons
- 50% – estimated percentage of individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar who attempt suicide during their lifetimes
- 44,193 suicide deaths in 2015
- 10% – estimated percentage of homicides involving an offender with serious mental illness
(approximately 1,425 per year at 2014 homicide rates) - 29% – estimated percentage of family homicides associated with serious mental illness
- 50% – estimated percentage of mass killings associated with serious mental illness
* Numbers and percentages of US adults
+National Institute of Mental Health, 2016
**2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report