What is mental illness? Mental illnesses are discrete and treatable health conditions involving functional impairment related to thinking, emotion, or behavior.
One in five adults in Texas experience a mental health condition each year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. As the official data partner for the Texas Lyceum, Texas 2036 breaks down the data on the state of mental health in Texas.
Two million of 5.2 million Texas children/youth (ages 6-17) had a mental health need in 2022, reports the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. One in three Texas children experience a mental health disorder in a given year, Meadows reports.
Like in many states, mental illness is not yet detected and treated — to the extent it is detected and treated at all — until 8 to 10 years after symptoms first emerge, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Half of all mental health conditions manifest by age 14. By young adulthood, 75% of lifetime cases have presented, according to Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005).
