View the whole report at www.surgeongeneral.gov.

This first Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health is issued at the culmination of a half-century that has witnessed remarkable advances in the understanding of mental disorders and the brain and in our appreciation of the centrality of mental health to overall health and well-being. The report was prepared against a backdrop of growing awareness in the United States and throughout the world of the immense burden of disability associated with mental illnesses. In the United States, mental disorders collectively account for more than 15 percent of the overall burden of disease from all causes and slightly more than the burden associated with all forms of cancer (Murray & Lopez, 1996). These data underscore the importance and urgency of treating and preventing mental disorders and of promoting mental health in our society.

The report in its entirety provides an up-to-date review of scientific advances in the study of mental health and of mental illnesses that affect at least one in five Americans. Several important conclusions may be drawn from the extensive scientific literature summarized in the report. One is that a variety of treatments of well-documented efficacy exist for the array of clearly defined mental and behavioral disorders that occur across the life span. Every person should be encouraged to seek help when questions arise about mental health, just as each person is encouraged to seek help when questions arise about health. Research highlighted in the report demonstrates that mental health is a facet of health that evolves throughout the lifetime. Just as each person can do much to promote and maintain overall health regardless of age, each also can do much to promote and strengthen mental health at every stage of life.

Much remains to be learned about the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental and behavioral disorders. Obstacles that may limit the availability or accessibility of mental health services for some Americans are being dismantled, but disparities persist. Still, thanks to research and the experiences of millions of individuals who have a mental disorder, their family members, and other advocates, the Nation has the power today to tear down the most formidable obstacle to future progress in the arena of mental illness and health. That obstacle is stigma. Stigmatization of mental illness is an excuse for inaction and discrimination that is inexcusably outmoded in 1999. As evident in the chapters that follow, we have acquired an immense amount of knowledge that permits us, as a Nation, to respond to the needs of persons with mental illness in a manner that is both effective and respectful.