HOW THEY’RE SERVED At least ¼ of all illness is mental illness. But only 1% of world health spending goes on mental health - mostly in the rich world.
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* i.e. those professionally trained in psychotherapy.
In most developing countries there is less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. In many there is less than one for every 1 million people. In some none at all. 90% of the developing world receives practically no mental health care, according to WHO.
Over half of all the psychiatrists in the world are in the US. They are part of a mental health industry costing $15 billion a year and employing 1/2million people. Today there are more mental health workers than policemen in the US.
Number of psychiatrists in the US
HOW THEY’RE TREATED In countries where psychoactive drugs - like Valium, Largactyl, - are available, they are the main treatment offered to people in mental distress.
1/5 of prescriptions in the UK are for psychoactive drugs.
50 million people in the US are taking psychoactive drugs at any one time and 200 million prescriptions for those drugs are written each year. That’s enough medication to keep 4 million people permanently sedated.
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