In 2023, around 59.2 million adults in the United States received treatment or counseling for their mental health within the past year. Such treatment included inpatient or outpatient treatment or counseling, or the use of prescription medication. Anxiety and depression are two common reasons for seeking mental health treatment. Who most often receives mental health treatment? In the United States, women are almost twice as likely than men to have received mental health treatment in the past year, with around 21 percent of adult women receiving some form of mental health treatment in the past year, as of 2021. Considering age, those between 18 and 44 years are more likely to receive counseling or therapy than older adults, however older adults are more likely to take medication to treat their mental health issues. Furthermore, mental health treatment in general is far more common among white adults in the U.S. than among other races or ethnicities. In 2020, around 24.4 percent of white adults received some form of mental health treatment in the past year compared to 15.3 percent of black adults and 12.6 percent of Hispanics. Reasons for not receiving mental health treatment Although stigma surrounding mental health treatment has declined over the last few decades and access to such services has greatly improved, many people in the United States who want or need treatment for mental health issues still do not get it. For example, it is estimated that almost half of women with some form of mental illness did not receive any treatment in the past year, as of 2022. Sadly, the most common reason for U.S. adults to not receive mental health treatment is that they thought they could handle the problem without treatment. Other common reasons for not receiving mental health treatment include not knowing where to go for services or could not afford the costs.

In 2023, around 17 percent of men in the United States received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year. The share of men who have received treatment for mental health problems has increased over the past couple decades likely due to a decrease in stigma around seeking such help and increased awareness of mental health issues. However, women in the U.S. are still much more likely to receive mental health treatment than men. Mental illness among men No one is immune to mental illness and the impact of mental health problems can be severe and debilitating. In 2023, it was estimated that 19 percent of men in the United States had some form of mental illness in the past year. Two of the most common mental disorders among men and women alike are anxiety disorders and depression. Depression is more common among men in their late teens and early 20s, with around 15 percent of U.S. men aged 21 to 25 years reporting experiencing a major depressive episode in the past year as of 2022. Depression is a very treatable condition, but those suffering from depression are at a much higher risk of suicide than those who do not have depression. Suicide among men Although women in the United States are more likely to report suffering from mental illness than men, the suicide rate among U.S. men is around 3.7 times higher than that of women. Suicide deaths among men are much more likely to involve the use of firearms, which may explain some of the disparity in suicide deaths between men and women. In 2020, around 58 percent of suicide deaths among men were from firearms compared to just 33 percent of suicide deaths among women. Although more people in the United States are accessing mental health, barriers to treatment persist. In 2022, the thought that they could handle the problem without treatment was the number one reason U.S. adults gave for not receiving the mental health treatment they required.

In 2021, the percentage of children and adolescents who received treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past year varied across the United States. Vermont was the state with the highest percentage of children and adolescents who received mental health treatment, while Hawaii was the lowest. Across the U.S. the average rate was 11.2 percent. This graph shows the percentage of children and adolescents in United States aged 3-17 who received treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past 12 months as of 2021.

In 2022, nearly 39 percent of adults with any mental illness (AMI) in Indiana reported that they were not able to receive mental health-related treatment, the highest share across all states in the United States. On the other hand, West Virginia had the lowest share of adults in the U.S. who reported unmet mental health needs with 18.4 percent. This statistic represents the share of adults with AMI who reported unmet needs for mental health treatment in the U.S. in 2022, by state.

Between 2018 and 2019, nearly 26 percent of children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 years in the United States received mental health services. This statistic illustrates the percentage of children and adolescents in the U.S. who received any mental health treatment or services from 2013 to 2019, by age.

In 2020, it was estimated that 20 percent of people in the United States with major depression in majority white communities received some kind of telehealth counseling. This statistic shows the percentage of people in the United States with major depression who received counseling or therapy, by race/ethnicity of communities and by type of treatment.

This statistic describes a projection of the total private spending on mental health treatments in the United States from 2009 to 2020. In 2009, private spending accounted for some 58.9 billion U.S. dollars for the treatment of mental health. Since the 1980s, expenditure on mental health has increased but the slow in growth in recent years may be linked to closures of specialty hospitals.

Expenditures on mental health treatments

Private expenditures in mental health treatments are expected to increase in the United States. Expenditure totaled about 61.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 and is expected to reach 88.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2020. Within these private expenditures, the majority is paid by private insurances but in 2010, about 16.9 billion U.S. dollars was paid directly out-of-pocket. Similarly, public expenditures on these treatments is forecasted to total 149.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, with the majority, 72.1 billion U.S. dollars, being paid by Medicaid, and about 35.3 billion U.S. dollars paid through Medicare.

Increased health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will increase the demand for mental health services. The ACA will likely almost double the percentage of U.S. adults with mental health disorders that are covered by Medicaid, where only 12.8 percent of this group was covered by the program before the health reform. As of 2014, Medicaid provided about 29 percent of the nation’s mental health expenditures. Nevertheless, mental health disorders and substance abuse is still prevalent in much of the country’s homeless population and among those still not covered by health insurance. Some provisions under Medicaid and Medicare would make hospital care more accessible to those who are seriously ill.

A survey from 2024 found that around 16 percent of adults in the United States stated they were currently being treated by or in therapy with a psychologist or other mental health professional. This was an increase from the previous year. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who had ever received treatment or therapy from a psychologist or other mental health professional from 2023 to 2024.

This statistic shows the results of meta-analyses from 587 studies which were published between 1990 and 2010. It depicts the therapy dropout rates in selected mental health disorder categories in the United States. The average dropout rate for eating disorder therapies stood at some 24 percent, one of the highest rates among mental health disorder categories.

In 2023, it was estimated that 28.5 percent of U.S. women received mental health treatment or counseling at some time in the past year. This statistic shows the percentage of U.S. women who received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year from 2002 to 2023.

In 2023, some 29.2 percent of respondents in the United States who received mental health treatment were covered by Medicaid/CHIP. This statistic represents the percentage of U.S. adults who received mental health treatment in the past year, sorted by health insurance status as of 2023.

Between 2017 and 2018, around 9.6 percent of children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years in the United States consulted a mental health professional. This statistic illustrates the percentage of children and adolescents in the U.S. who received any mental health treatment or service from 2013 to 2019.

In 2022, around 17 percent of Hispanics or Latinos in the U.S. received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year. This statistic represents the percentage of U.S. Hispanic or Latino adults who received mental health treatment in the past year from 2002 to 2023.

Between 2017 and 2018, nearly 12 percent of white, non-Hispanic children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years in the United States had a consultation with a mental health professional. This statistic illustrates the percentage of children and adolescents in the U.S. who received any mental health treatment or services from 2013 to 2019, by race/ethnicity.

As of May 2022, the estimated headcount of marriage and family therapists employed in the United States ranged from 40 therapists to 28,910 by state. In 2022, California registered the highest number of marriage and family therapists, whereas Nebraska and South Dakota had the lowest.

This statistic depicts the leading therapy areas in the United States based on the adjusted number of prescriptions dispensed in 2022. In that year, the number of prescriptions dispensed for pain medication totaled to nearly 400 million in the United States, making it the fifth ranked therapy area.

In 2020, around 13 percent of adults aged 18 to 44 years in the United States received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months. This statistic illustrates the percentage of U.S. adults aged 18 years and older who had received any mental health treatment or medication in the past 12 months in 2020, by age.

In the United States around 21 percent of college or university students reported that in the past year, they could not use mental health services that they otherwise would have received due to financial reasons and 24 percent of students reported that they did not have enough time for such services. This statistic shows the percentage of college students experiencing barriers to mental health services in the United States in 2022-2023.

This statistic describes a projection of the total public spending on mental health treatments in the United States from 2009 to 2020. In 2009, public spending accounted for some 88.5 billion U.S. dollars for the treatment of mental health.

In 2021, almost nine percent of children aged 5 to 11 years in the United States received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months. This statistic illustrates the percentage of U.S. children aged 5 to 17 years who had received any mental health treatment or medication in the past 12 months in 2021, by age.