25% of Americans mentally ill, says government-sponsored study

"We lead the world in a lot of good things, but we're also leaders in this one particular domain that we'd rather not be," said Ronald Kessler, the Harvard professor of health care policy who led the effort, called the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.
The exhaustive government-sponsored effort, based on in-depth interviews with more than 9,000 randomly selected Americans, finds that the prevalence of U.S. mental illness has remained roughly flat in the past decade -- a possible glimmer of hope given that previous decades had suggested the rates were gradually rising.
[Kessler has written numerous books about the Federal government including the glowing portrayal of G.W. Bush, "A Matter of Character." This is a good story to track. It will likely be used to support Bush's dubious TeenScreen program. -- McLir]