According to the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, the World Health
Organization produced a report in 1999 studying worldwide disability and
listed mental illness as a leading cause of disabilities in 1990 (see Figure
7-1). It is important to recognize that five out of the top ten causes
of disability are related to mental illness conditions.
In addition, the study found that mental illness has been seriously underestimated
and is expected to increase worldwide by almost fifty percent from 1990 to
2020. Disability is defined as the number of years a person has lived with
a specific condition of specific severity and duration (USDHHS, 1999, p.
4).
People who have experienced mental illness directly or are associated with
it through family, friends, or professionally, recognize the impact mental
illness has had on people's lives. The United States passed the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) in order to protect the civil rights of people
with disabilities, including mental illnesses. The impact of mental illness
is a long story of the plight of numerous heroes, who have fought, struggled,
lost, and overcome the untold tragedies and horrors surrounding mental illness.
It is realistic to expect, as the Travis County area continues to grow, there
will be an increase in the number of persons diagnosed with a biologically
based severe and persistent mental illness as well as other mental health
problems and disorders.
