Mental Health

According to the rise in the number of people receiving treatment for mental
illness, Americans appear to be experiencing a mental illness epidemic.
Between 1987 and 2007, the number of Americans who are so afflicted by
mental diseases that they are eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) climbed by over two and a
half times, from one in 184 to one in seventy-six. The growth is even more
astounding for children—it has increased 35 times in the same twenty years.
In contrast to physical disabilities like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, for
which the government programs were designed, mental illness is currently
the main cause of disability in children.