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.
