Some Facts for Advocacy
Short primer on current statistics: Problems
People with serious mental illness account for a disproportionate share of suicides, homelessness, violence, and incarceration.
18% of population over 18 (43 million) has ‘any’ mental illness. 4% of population over 18 (10 million) have ‘serious’ mental illness (SMI) 2-4 million mentally ill go untreated One-third of homeless are mentally ill (estimates between 200,000 and 300,000 persons) 16% of incarcerated (300,000) have mental illness 1,000 plus homicides a year are committed by mentally ill 10-17% of seriously mentally ill kill themselves $15 billion is spent incarcerating mentally ill, often in abysmal conditions such as solitary confinement Random acts of violence by minority are tarring the majority There are approximately 50 psychiatric hospital beds per state, down from 50,000 twenty years ago Please let our organization SARDAA (Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America) assist you if you have a need in understanding and vocalizing the issues around this important topic. Psychotic illnesses are treatable but currently the most common outcomes are homelessness, incarceration and early death.
Thank you, Sincerely, Laura Pogliano SARDAA Board Member Baltimore, MD 815-953-3844