Mental Health America national has released its annual State of Mental Health in America report, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 15 mental health access and prevalence measures. This report illuminates the continuing crisis both in the prevalence of mental health conditions and in access to mental health services in Ohio, making it clear that we must do more to ensure that Ohioans are able to lead mentally healthy lives.
Some of the key findings for Ohio include:
For all measures, a higher ranking is more favorable.
“We should be concerned that Ohio had one of the largest negative changes in overall ranking from year to year,” MHAOhio Executive Director Kenton Beachy says. “While last year Ohio’s positively trending ranking in lower prevalence and higher access to mental health care was looking great, we now know we need to do much better in getting mental health services to youth with depressive disorder and reaching adults with serious thoughts of suicide.”
As policymakers, advocates, educators, and concerned citizens, we must continue to expand prevention, focus on early intervention, and improve access to mental health care for all in need. And we must do so with a specific emphasis on mental health equity – addressing the needs of marginalized and impoverished communities who face greater risk factors for mental health conditions as well as greater challenges in access to care.
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