Hospital & community psychiatry
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Mental illness imposes a substantial burden on individuals and society. Using data from national surveys and a newly developed methodology for calculating costs, the authors estimate that in 1985 the total economic costs of mental illness were $103.7 billion. ⋯ Mortality costs--the lost value of productivity due to premature death resulting from mental illness--were estimated to be $9.3 billion, or 5.1 percent of total productivity losses for all deaths. Other related costs, including the cost of caregiver services, amounted to $4.5 billion.