Most people are not getting access to high-quality behavioral health support.

Judged as of 2019-04-30. The claim is about degree ('most'). True: credible data from around 2019 (e.g. SAMHSA/NSDUH, WHO, NIMH, peer-reviewed studies) show that a majority (>50%) of people who need behavioral/mental health care do not receive it, or do not receive adequate or high-quality care. Mostly true: the data show a majority do not get care, but only for a narrower group than the claim implies (e.g. one country or one condition), or the figure is close to half with most estimates over 50%. Mixed: estimates split around half, or the majority holds for some groups and not for others. Mostly false: the data show unmet need is large but well under a majority (e.g. 30-45%), so 'most' overstates it. False: the data show most people who need behavioral health support do receive adequate care. The 'everyone deserves' part is normative and is not judged. Read 'most' as most people who need such support, not most of the general population.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health SAMHSA (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) · August 2019

   “In any given year, about two thirds of adults with past year SMI received mental health services in the past year. Stated another way, however, about one third of adults with SMI in any given year did not receive mental health services.”

2. E2 Evidence-based psychological treatments for mental disorders: Modifiable barriers to access and possible solutions PubMed Central (review article by academic authors) · 26 February 2015

   “the majority of people with a mental disorder are not getting treated and, even among those who do get treated, the majority are not receiving a minimally adequate treatment, far or less an EBPT.”

3. E3 Adequacy of Treatment for Serious Mental Illness in the United States PubMed Central (peer-reviewed study, National Comorbidity Survey data) · 1 January 2002

   “Forty percent of respondents with serious mental illness had received treatment in the previous year. Of those receiving treatment, 38.9% received care that could be considered at least minimally adequate, resulting in 15.3% of all respondents with serious mental illness receiving minimally adequate treatment.”

4. E4 Treatment Gap for Anxiety Disorders is Global: Results of the World Mental Health Surveys in 21 countries PubMed Central (peer-reviewed study, World Mental Health Surveys) · 22 January 2018

   “Of 51,547 respondents (response=71.3%), 9.8% had a 12-month DSM-IV anxiety disorder, 27.6% of whom received any treatment, and only 9.8% received possibly adequate treatment.”

A 2015 review states that the majority of people with a mental disorder are not treated, and that most of those treated do not receive minimally adequate treatment [E2]. A 2018 study across 21 countries found that only 27.6% of people with an anxiety disorder received any treatment and 9.8% received possibly adequate treatment [E4]. An older US study found that 15.3% of people with serious mental illness received minimally adequate treatment [E3]. SAMHSA data show about two-thirds of US adults with serious mental illness received some services [E1], but that measures any service, not adequate or high-quality care, so it does not undercut the claim.