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Nearly 1.2 billion people worldwide had mental disorders in 2023, reflecting a 95.5% increase since 1990, a new study has found.
The largest increases were in anxiety and depression, which were also the most common disorders in 2023. In third place was a residual category of personality disorders not accompanied by other mental or substance use disorders.
The study, published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, also revealed how trends concerning 12 mental disorders differed by age, sex, location and sociodemographic factors among 204 countries and territories — suggesting “that we are entering an even more concerning phase of worsening mental disorder burden globally,” the authors wrote in the study.
Dr. Damian Santomauro, first and lead study author, “was honestly shocked at the magnitude,” he said via email.
“There are many factors at play here, and it is difficult to tease them all apart,” added Santomauro, associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland in Australia. “Addressing these risk factors requires global collective leadership.”
The other mental disorders measured were bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anorexia, bulimia, dysthymia, conduct disorder and developmental intellectual disability from unknown causes. Dysthymia is a long-term but mild form of depression also known as persistent depressive disorder. Conduct disorder affects children and teens and involves a consistent pattern of disobedient and aggressive behaviors.
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