Report examines the alarming deficiencies of the mental health care system in rural America Mental Health: Overlooked and Disregarded in Rural America. ” According to Preston, Rural Research Assistant for the Center for Rural Affairs, rural Americans remain undeserved in terms of mental health care providers and health insurance coverage for mental health services despite the fact rural Americans suffer just as much from mental illness.

“This report further demonstrates that rural America’s economic dependence on small business and self-employment calls for health care reform that includes an affordable, meaningful public health insurance option. And that any such reform should also ensure that all Americans, rural and urban, have reasonable access to quality mental health care,” Preston added. The Center for Rural Affairs, in collaboration with Dr. Dianne Travers Gustafson, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, recently undertook the task of evaluating rural Americans access to crucial mental health care services. This is the fourth in a series of Center for Rural Affairs reports examining crucial health care issues in rural America. Previous reports can be found on the front page of the Center’s website (www.cfra.org). A full copy of the report can be viewed and downloaded athttp://files.cfra.org/pdf/Mental-Health-Overlooked-and-Disregarded-in-Rural-America.pdfCrucial Findings: Depression – Major depression rates in some rural areas significantly exceed those in urban areas. Teens and older adults in rural areas have significantly higher suicide rates than their urban counterparts. Stress – Stress is associated with increased mental health disorders and rural people experience stress with cyclical farm crises, natural disasters and social isolation.

Barriers of Availability – More than 85 percent of the 1,669 federally designated mental health professional shortage areas are rural. Lack of Accessibility – Only in rural America did the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health (1993) find entire counties with no practicing psychiatrists, psychologists, or social workers. Social Stigma – The social stigma attached to mental health problems in combination with a general lack of anonymity in many small communities leads some people to forego treatment. Lack of affordable, meaningful health insurance coverage – Rural Americans are less likely than urban Americans to have health insurance that covers mental or behavioral health services.