The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why? by Marcia Angell | The New York Review of Books

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An advertisement for Prozac, from The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995

It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers treated for it. The tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007