Does Utah have a Mental

Health Issue?
By Kole martin
Yes

▪ Utah has a mental health issues and a lack of resources to properly

deal with individuals who are experiencing mental health issues and
crisis.
Highest Rate of Mental Illness

From Heraldextra.com this

image shows the rate of
mental illness in Utah
compared to other states.
According to the article titled
Utah has the Highest Rate of
Mental Illness in US, it is stated
that ranks number 1 in the
country for “serious mental
illness… with 5.14 percent”
Lack of Treatment in Adults

This image from KFF.org shows adults who suffer from mental illness, and did not receive treatment
from 2017-2018, and the level of mental illness. This is significant because is shows the comparison of
the United states and Utah, showing how Utah, above many other states, has an issue with treating
mental health problems, due to lack of resources
Because of the lack of mental health
resources and Aid, substance abuse
and anti depressant usage for Utah is
also at a high point.
Another statistic by KFF.org, this shows the
overdose on opioids by adolescence. This
supports the idea that Utah is too dependent
on substances to fix mental health issues,
which is more of a quick fix to some of these
issues. Where we should instead be focused on
the longer solution that has less repercussions
Substance abuse and
antidepressant usage isn't a
new thing for Utah either. An
article published by LA times
back in 2002 by Julie Cart
titled ``Study find Utah Leads
Nation in Antidepressant Use
talks about how in Utah
“Antidepressant drugs are
prescribed… more often than
in any other state”. This is
super significant and alarming
because it shows how Utah
has an ongoing issues in the
field of prescribing drugs for
depression
Suicide is an issue presented
that goes with the lack of mental
health resource. Also from
KFF.org Mental Health in Utah,
This chart shows suicides by age,
and compares it to the rest of
the United States. According to
KFF.org “in 2017-2018 6.5% of
adults in Utah had serious
thoughts of suicide… which was
higher than the U.S… 4.3%) 
This image shows pairs of shoes belonging to
those who have died by suicide. An article by The
Salt Lake Tribune titled Hoping to counter deadly
trend, Utah officials confirm 425 suicides so far in
2017 talks about how citizens of Utah are “dying at
an alarming rate” and how The Department of
Health confirmed “425 suicides so far in 2017” this
article was posted early September of 2017
Also, by in the same article as
the last slide, this give a picture
to the statistic, to show how
serious the issues at the time
was. Utah citizens recognized
this which caused them to put
the shoes out on the capitol
steps, to call for action to be
taken to help prevent these
suicides
Going further back to 2016,
This article by Deseret News
titled The Lone Peak Story:
What you Didn't Know About
Affluence and Teen Suicide,
shows the rate of suicides and
the ages back in 2016, further
recognizing that mental
health and suicide have been
an issue, not just recently, but
for a while now.
Overall Utah has a mental health issue, and
because of the lack of help available and
resources, it has led to Substance and
Antidepressant use, and an overreliance on
medication. Additionally, it had led to harsher
outcomes like suicide and accidental overdose,
Citizens have recognized this which has caused the
issue to be talked about more
Utah does have an issues with
Mental health, Depression,
and Suicide. Utah has gotten
better and is making
improvements to get better
but it's not enough. An
example is Utah going in the
right direction, is recently they
passed a bill to make it, so
police officers have to take
mental health training, to
better deal with those types of
crises. This is not going to be
enough if Utah wants to see
its numbers drop and its
Citizens happier