Psychological distress severity of adults reporting receipt of treatment for mental health problems in the BRFSS.

Objective: Although effective mental health treatments exist, few population data are available on treatment receipt by persons with psychological distress. This study aimed to understand the association between symptoms and treatment receipt with data from the U.S Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey.

Methods: In the 2007 survey, psychological distress was assessed with the Kessler-6 scale, and respondents were asked about receipt of mental health treatment. Data from 197,914 respondents were analyzed.

Results: In the overall population 87.5% of respondents reported no psychological distress, 8.5% mild to moderate psychological distress, and 3.9% serious psychological distress. Those with serious distress were nearly ten times as likely to receive treatment (adjusted odds ratio=9.58, 95% confidence interval=8.53-10.75) as those with no distress. One in ten persons (10.7%) in the study population reported receiving treatment.

Conclusions: Distinct U.S. subpopulations exist by treatment and symptom status. Better understanding of all these groups is essential for improving population-based mental health care.