Disability - Mental Illness And Rising Disability In The Workforce

In December 2000, a total of 5,042,333 people received disability benefits through the Social Security Administration's Disability Insurance program. The graph presents a breakdown by percentage of beneficiaries by the diagnostic group under which they were found to have a covered disability. The largest single category, by far, is the one covering mental disorders. Almost one third of beneficiaries (1,618,758) are disabled by mental illness.

In the previous panel we saw that trends in new beneficiaries over the past 40 years. Here we are looking at all beneficiaries receiving benefits at the end of 2000.

A person on disability benefits may remain on the disability rolls for a short period of time or may stay on disability benefits until retirement age. For some diagnostic groups the longevity of the disabling condition is greater than for others. This appears to be the case for those with mental disorders. Therefore, over time these beneficiaries grow as a percentage of all beneficiaries. Those, for example, receiving benefits because of a neoplasm, have a greater chance of dropping off the beneficiary rolls because they are cured or, quite the opposite, because they succumb to their ailments and die. In the case of musculoskeletal disorders, again, the rate of successful treatment and return to work is higher than for mental disorders.

Our mental health appears to be causing us a great deal of trouble. It is difficult to say exactly why so many people are unable to work due to mental disorders. Is it the nature of the modern workplace? Or are our mental health problems originating from some other area of our lives? What is clear is that the workplace is losing workers as a result of deteriorating mental health in the workforce. Mental disorders are difficult to diagnose. A skeptic might conclude that the rise in mental disorder related disability is the result of fraudulent claims. But the claims process is arduous and fewer than half of those claiming benefits are ever awarded disability benefits.

All we can say with certainly is that, based on these data, the state of our mental health is keeping far more people from earning a living than was the case in the past.

Source: U. S. Social Security Administration, Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, 2000, Table 4, "All Disabled Beneficiaries by Diagnostic Group and Sex, December 2000," September 2001, pp. 32 and 33.