Hidden Disabilities and Mental Stress
I’ve been talking about the issues with hidden disabilities for some time now, but I haven’t brought up the other challenges that are present — that of mental stress.
- Nationwide, an estimated 17.4 million adults with disabilities reported frequent mental distress.
- Adults living below the federal poverty level report mental distress 70% more often than adults in higher-income households.
- According to the data in 2018, the prevalence of reported mental distress among those with disabilities (32.9%) was 4.6 times that of those without disabilities (7.2%).
- Mental distress was more commonly reported among females and persons who were unmarried; unemployed; identified as lesbian or gay, bisexual, or something else; and lived in lower-income households
- Adults with cognitive and mobility disabilities who are approximately 9 times as likely to have frequent mental distress as are adults without disabilities.
Increasing provider awareness of the importance of mental health screening could help improve the identification and treatment of co-occurring mental health conditions. Dealing with physical health problems is already difficult. Mental health problems too often complicate the physical problems and need to be addressed as well.
Click HERE to read the CDC article.
Reference
Cree, Robyn A., et al. “Frequent Mental Distress among Adults, by Disability Status, Disability Type, and Selected Characteristics — United States, 2018.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 69, no. 36, 2020, pp. 1238–1243.,
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