Mental Illness and the Economy

This study describes the inverse relation between the state of the economy and mental illness that is brought to a level of social visibility. The factual basis for the relation involves fluctuations in mental hospitalization levels and rates and fluctuations in the employment index in New York State. Economic instability is found to be one of the most pervasive and continuous sources of stress in industrialized society. The findings place many of the problems of mental illness clearly within the area of social policy. Decisions affecting the economy at the national, regional, or state levels have profound implications for the management of severe mental disorder. Decisions which lead toward stabilizing economic activity and reducing unemployment tend to stabilize the society and effect a substantive control on the severity of mental disorder. Economic decisions or factors which increase instability and unemployment sharply increase the level and rate of mental hospitalization. -- from Preface.