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Serious Psychological Distress Among Adults Aged 50 or Older: 2005 & 2006

The NSDUH Report - -  Serious Psychological Distress Among Adults Aged 50 or Older: 2005 and 2006 

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 Highlights:

  • Combined data from SAMHSA's 2005 and 2006 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH) indicate than an annual average of 7% of adults aged 50 or older experienced serious psychological distress in the past year. Adults aged 50 to 64 were more likely to experience past year serious psychological distress than those aged 65 or older (8.8% vs. 4.5%).
  • Adults aged 50 or older were more likely to experience serious psychological distress in the past year if they had less than a high school education than if they were college graduates (10.2% vs. 5.2%), had family incomes less than $20,000 compared with those with $75,000 or more (11.7% vs. 4.4%), and were without health insurance compared with those with health insurance (12.3% vs. 6.7%).
  • Over half (53.7%) of the adults aged 50 or older with past year serious psychological distress received mental health treatment in the past year, 6.2% did not receive treatment although they felt they needed it, and 40.1% did not receive treatment and did not perceive a need for it.
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This Short Report, The NSDUH Report - -  Serious Psychological Distress Among Adults Aged 50 or Older: 2005 & 2006 ,  is based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).  The NSDUH is  conducted by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's NSDUH is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   SAMHSA's NSDUH also provides estimates for drug use by State.

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