The Mental Health Crisis in America

Understanding and Treating Behavioral Health Conditions
The last several years have added different sorts of stress into life’s ongoing challenges. Behavioral health practitioners and medical providers all report increases in depression and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, mental illnesses are far too common in the United States, affecting millions of people each year.
Great increases in mental illness are attributed to a complex mix of factors including increased reporting, social inequalities, the impact of technology and the pandemic. Misinformation and pressure on social media, economic uncertainty and ongoing world wars all increase anxiety and insomnia.
Rising rates of depression and chronic diseases (like diabetes) may be referred to as “diseases of modernity.” The National Institute of Mental Health says these increasingly prevalent conditions are possibly associated with modern technology: sedentary behavior, social isolation, overeating and sleep disorders.
An epidemic of anxiety, depression and mood disorders
Numbers of mentally ill patients have been rising steadily for decades, according to NIMH. The federal government estimates more than one in five U.S. adults presently live with mental illness. (That adds up to about 59.3 million people or nearly 23% of the adult population).
Mental health conditions can range from unnoticeable impairments to mild, moderate and severe mental health conditions – often with disturbing side effects. Knowledgeable teams at Horizon Health partner with hospitals and behavioral health facilities to ensure that patients and communities receive the highest standard of quality healthcare.
Behavioral health management and consulting services
Mental health disorders can affect anyone, regardless of age and environment. Also, the business of running behavioral health units can be complicated, and the need is dire. When there’s no behavioral health strategy, a hospital may be underutilizing space and increasing occupational stress for their overwhelmed emergency department.
Today, a community hospital may benefit most with architectural enhancements and upgrades to its mental health programming. For example, your partners and stakeholders may be clamoring for a new geriatric service line. Provide your patients with targeted services by partnering with Horizon Health, a management company that builds stable, cost-effective psychiatric units and programs.
Horizon Health can also build and support new medical detox services, staffing solutions and adolescent programming. Most important, advanced care teams help treat serious mental health conditions, including:
- Anxiety disorders
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- Thought disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Suicidal behavior
- Substance use disorders (SUD)
Horizon Health program management and consulting services
The greater access to full-spectrum care that your hospital provides, the more sustained benefits the community will be able to enjoy. Horizon Health brings more than four decades of operational, financial and clinical expertise together to implement and manage successful behavioral health programs.
Any mental illness (AMI)
- Any mental illness is defined as a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder. AMI can vary in impact, ranging from no impairment to mild, moderate and serious impairment with side effects.
Serious mental Illness (SMI)
- Serious mental illness or impairment is a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment
- According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) serious mental illness is typically diagnosed when it limits major life activities like working.
- Young adults (ages 18-25) experience the highest levels of severe mental illness (11.6%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (7.6%).
- NIMH says more females live with a mental illness (57%), and they’re more likely to seek professional help than males (42%).
- Last year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were close to 100,000 drug overdose deaths, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period.
Treating addiction and depression with mental health challenges
Hospitals might have misconceptions about their ability to impact the mental health of their community based on the size of their market. In fact, every region across America (urban inner cities, small towns and everything in between) requires additional mental health services and specialized staff to treat behavioral health, drug crimes and addictions in the neighborhood.
Sadly, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates only half of patients with mental illnesses will receive the crucial treatment they need. Statistics are dire. Nearly 40% of SUD patients have co-occurring psychiatric disorders, yet only 7% of these complex cases will receive treatment for both.
Support services for these dual diagnosis disorders are designed to provide a hospital with clinical behavioral expertise facilitated in a medically supervised environment. It offers counseling, 24/7 patient monitoring, behavioral assessments and health exams to identify the symptoms or side effects that must be treated right away.
Horizon Health’s clinical management and custom partnership models can contribute to your hospital’s successes, local recognition and positive patient outcomes.
Schedule an appointment
Call 800-931-4646 or complete an online contact form and Horizon Health’s business development team will reach out.
Contact us
Horizon Health, a subsidiary of Universal Health Services (UHS), is a leading health and hospitals management company with extensive behavioral health facilities. Horizon Health Adventure RN, the Travel Nurse Program, offers flexible employment opportunities across our national network of more than 200 behavioral health facilities. We have full-time and part-time positions (20 hours per week) available.