- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18.1% of U.S. population).
- Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year, almost one-third of the country's $148 billion total mental health bill, according to "The Economic Burden of Anxiety Disorders," a study commissioned by ADAA and published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol. 60, No. 7, July 1999.
- More than $22.84 billion of those costs are associated with the repeated use of health care services; people with anxiety disorders seek relief for symptoms that mimic physical illnesses.
- People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.
NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES REFER TO ADULTS AFFECTED IN U.S. POPULATION
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
6.8 million, 3.1%
- Women are twice as likely to be affected than men.
- Very likely to be comorbid with other disorders.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
2.2 million, 1.0%
- Equally common among men and women.
- One-third of affected adults first experienced symptoms in childhood.
- In 1990, OCD cost the U.S. 6% of the total $148 billion mental health bill.
Panic Disorder
6 million, 2.7%
- Women are twice as likely to be affected than men.
- Very high comorbidity rate with major depression.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
7.7 million, 3.5%
- Women are more likely to be affected than men.
- Rape is the most likely trigger of PTSD, 65% of men and 45.9% of women who are raped will develop the disorder.
- Childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of lifetime likelihood for developing PTSD.
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
15 million, 6.8%
- It is equally common among men and women.
Specific Phobias
19 million, 8.7%
Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.
