Mental Health Disparities in the United States - Research Paper Example

The partnering community in Maryland is the Tri-State Family Medicine & Behavioral Health, LLC organization. Mental health disparities have received increased attention over the last 20 years. Examples include the fact that access to mental health services is limited for many rural Americans when compared to that of other Americans, varying suicide rates and their demographic variables, and it is estimated that it is 2 to 3 times more likely than persons with the lowest level of socioeconomic status will have a mental disorder than those with the highest level of such status.

The Surgeon General's 2001 report, Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity, noted that, given the increasing diversity of our population, it is in the nation’s best interests to ensure the best health for all of our populations. The Institute of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both, have made it a national priority on their research agendas for disparities in mental health. Additionally, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health incorporated elimination of disparities as one of six goals to transform the nation’s mental health system.

In 2006, representatives from over twenty United States federal agencies convened with the goal of promoting research that would guide effective public health policies and help reduce health disparities. Acknowledging that resources are limited, this group, which came to be known as the Federal Collaborative for Health Disparities Research (FCHDR), was faced with difficulty prioritizing decisions. Among 165 different health disparity conditions, FCHDR designated mental health disparity as one of the four topics that warranted the most immediate national research attention.

Obesity, comorbidities, and the built environment were the other 3 topics selected.