Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need

Dan J. Stein; Daniel V. Vigo; Meredith G. Harris; Alan E. Kazdin; Maria Carmen Viana; Irving Hwang; Timothy L. Kessler; Sophie M. Manoukian; Nancy A. Sampson; Jordi Alonso; Laura Helena Andrade; Corina Benjet; Ronny Bruffaerts; Brendan Bunting; Graça Cardoso; Stephanie Chardoul; Giovanni de Girolamo; Peter de Jonge; Oye Gureje; Josep Maria Haro; Elie G. Karam; Viviane Kovess-Masfety; Jacek Moskalewicz; Fernando Navarro-Mateu; Daisuke Nishi; José Posada-Villa; Kate Scott; Juan Carlos Stagnaro; Cristian Vladescu; Jacek Wciórka; Zahari Zarkov; Ronald C. Kessler; Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola; Ali Al-Hamzawi; Yasmin A. Altwaijri; Lukoye Atwoli; Guilherme Borges; Evelyn J. Bromet; Jose Miguel Caldas-de-Almeida; Alfredo H. Cía; Louisa Degenhardt; Ma. Lourdes Rosanna E. de Guzman; Hristo Hinkov; Chi-Yi Hu; Aimee Nasser Karam; Georges Karam; Norito Kawakami; Salma Khaled; Andrzej Kiejna; John J. McGrath; Maria Elena Medina-Mora; Marina Piazza; Kate M. Scott; Margreet Ten Have; Yolanda Torres; David R. Williams; Bogdan Wojtyniak; Peter Woodruff; Miguel Xavier; Alan M. Zaslavsky

doi:10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need

Dan J. Stein
, Daniel V. Vigo
, Meredith G. Harris
, Alan E. Kazdin
, Maria Carmen Viana
, Irving Hwang
, Timothy L. Kessler
, Sophie M. Manoukian
, Nancy A. Sampson
, Jordi Alonso
, Laura Helena Andrade
, Corina Benjet
, Ronny Bruffaerts
, Brendan Bunting
, Graça Cardoso
, Stephanie Chardoul
, Giovanni de Girolamo
, Peter de Jonge
, Oye Gureje
, Josep Maria Haro

Elie G. Karam, Viviane Kovess-Masfety, Jacek Moskalewicz, Fernando Navarro-Mateu, Daisuke Nishi, José Posada-Villa, Kate Scott, Juan Carlos Stagnaro, Cristian Vladescu, Jacek Wciórka, Zahari Zarkov, Ronald C. Kessler, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Ali Al-Hamzawi, Yasmin A. Altwaijri, Lukoye Atwoli, Guilherme Borges, Evelyn J. Bromet, Jose Miguel Caldas-de-Almeida, Alfredo H. Cía, Louisa Degenhardt, Ma. Lourdes Rosanna E. de Guzman, Hristo Hinkov, Chi-Yi Hu, Aimee Nasser Karam, Georges Karam, Norito Kawakami, Salma Khaled, Andrzej Kiejna, John J. McGrath, Maria Elena Medina-Mora, Marina Piazza, Kate M. Scott, Margreet Ten Have, Yolanda Torres, David R. Williams, Bogdan Wojtyniak, Peter Woodruff, Miguel Xavier, Alan M. Zaslavsky

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

20 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background
Data from the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys on the coverage cascade has underscored the importance of perceived need for seeking treatment of mental disorders. However, little research has focused on treatment contact after adjusting for perceived need. We do so here in analysis of WMH data.

Methods
The WMH data considered here come from 25 community surveys implemented between 2001 and 2019 across 21 countries. n = 12,508 of the n = 117,739 respondents in these surveys aged 18 and older met criteria for one or more 12-month DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders assessed across all these surveys. Information was obtained about 12-month treatment of each disorder. The predictors considered were disorder type, socio-demographics, and history of prior treatment.

Results
Twelve-month treatment was obtained for 17.7% of the n = 18,702 12-month person-disorders in the sample, including 34.1% for the 46.5% with perceived need and 3.5% for the 54.5% without perceived need. After adjusting for perceived need, receiving treatment was most strongly associated with disorder characteristics (severity, and highest for major depressive, panic/agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorders; lowest for substance use disorders), health insurance, employment status (highest for students, the retired, and the unemployed/disabled), and several aspects of prior treatment. These associations were generally similar in cases with and without perceived need for treatment. 12-month treatment among cases who without perceived need and without history of prior treatment was rare (1.1%).

Conclusions
Findings highlight the critical importance of perceived need for obtaining 12-month treatment in the context of other significant predictors involving complexity and severity of disorders and socio-demographic factors. The importance of prior treatment history was quite striking, as was the finding that absence of both perceived need and prior treatment history were associated with a nearly complete absence of treatment. Policy recommendations emerging from these results include the need to increase health literacy, reduce the stigmatization of mental disorder, enhance access through health insurance, and improve the quality of care given the clear evidence that prior experiences with treatment play an important role in determining the likelihood of again seeking treatment for current problems.

Original language	English
Article number	10
Pages (from-to)	1-18
Number of pages	18
Journal	International Journal of Mental Health Systems
Volume	19
Issue number	1
Early online date	14 Mar 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 14 Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

Data Availability Statement

Access to the cross-national World Mental Health (WMH) data is governed by
the organizations funding and responsible for survey data collection in each
country. These organizations made data available to the WMH consortium
through restricted data sharing agreements that do not allow us to release
the data to third parties. The exception is that the U.S. data are available for
secondary analysis via the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social
Research (ICPSR), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/series/00527

Funding

The World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative is supported by the United States National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01 MH070884), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the United States Public Health Service (R13-MH066849, R01-MH069864, and R01 DA016558), the Fogarty International Center (FIRCA R03-TW006481), the Pan American Health Organization, Eli Lilly and Company, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. We thank the staff of the WMH Data Collection and Data Analysis Coordination Centres for assistance with instrumentation, fieldwork, and consultation on data analysis. None of the funders had any role in the design, analysis, interpretation of results, or preparation of this paper. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of the World Health Organization, other sponsoring organizations, agencies, or governments. The Argentina survey − Estudio Argentino de Epidemiología en Salud Mental (EASM) − was supported by a grant from the Argentinian Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud de la Nación) − (Grant Number 2002-17270/13-5). The São Paulo Megacity Mental Health Survey is supported by the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Thematic Project Grant 03/00204-3. The Bulgarian Epidemiological Study of common mental disorders -EPIBUL - is supported by the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Public Health Protection. (For papers that include the Bulgaria 2 survey, add: EPIBUL 2, conducted in 2016-17, is supported by the Ministry of Health and European Economic Area Grants. The Colombian National Study of Mental Health (NSMH) is supported by the Ministry of Social Protection. The Mental Health Study Medellín – Colombia was carried out and supported jointly by the Center for Excellence on Research in Mental Health (CES University) and the Secretary of Health of Medellín. The ESEMeD surveys (Belgium; France; Germany; Italy; Netherlands; Spain) were funded by the European Commission (Contracts QLG5-1999-01042; SANCO 2004123, and EAHC 20081308), the Piedmont Region (Italy)), Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (FIS 00/0028), Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain (SAF 2000-158-CE), Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 452; 2014 SGR 748), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBER CB06/02/0046, RETICS RD06/0011 REM-TAP), and other local agencies and by an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline. The Israel National Health Survey is funded by the Ministry of Health with support from the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research and the National Insurance Institute of Israel. The World Mental Health Japan (WMHJ) Survey is supported by the Grant for Research on Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases and Mental Health (H13-SHOGAI-023, H14-TOKUBETSU-026, H16-KOKORO-013, H25-SEISHIN-IPPAN-006) from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The Lebanese Evaluation of the Burden of Ailments and Needs of the Nation (L.E.B.A.N.O.N.) is supported by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, the WHO (Lebanon), National Institute of Health / Fogarty International Center (R03 TW006481-01), anonymous private donations to IDRAAC, Lebanon, and unrestricted grants from, Algorithm, AstraZeneca, Benta, Bella Pharma, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Smith Kline, Lundbeck, Novartis, OmniPharma, Pfizer, Phenicia, Servier, UPO. The Mexican National Comorbidity Survey (MNCS) is supported by the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente (INPRFMDIES 4280) and by the National Council on Science and Technology (CONACyT-G30544-H), with supplemental support from the PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO). The Nigerian Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHW) is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Geneva), the WHO (Nigeria), and the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Nigeria. The Northern Ireland Study of Mental Health was funded by the Health & Social Care Research & Development Division of the Public Health Agency. The Peruvian World Mental Health Study was funded by the National Institute of Health of the Ministry of Health of Peru. The Polish project Epidemiology of Mental Health and Access to Care –EZOP Project (PL 0256) was carried out by the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw in consortium with the Department of Psychiatry, Medical University, Wroclaw, the National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw and in partnership with Psykiatrist Institut, Vinderen, Universitet Oslo. The project was funded by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. EZOP project was co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Health. The second Polish survey, EZOP – 2, was carried out by the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw in collaboration with colleagues from the National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw and was entirely funded by the Polish Ministry of Health. The Portuguese Mental Health Study was carried out by the Department of Mental Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, NOVA University of Lisbon, with collaboration of the Portuguese Catholic University, and was funded by Champalimaud Foundation, Gulbenkian Foundation, Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Portuguese Ministry of Health. The Romania WMH study projects "Policies in Mental Health Area" and "National Study regarding Mental Health and Services Use" were carried out by National School of Public Health & Health Services Management (present National School of Public Health Management & Professional Development, Bucharest), with technical support of Metro Media Transilvania, the National Institute of Statistics, SC Cheyenne Services SRL, and Statistics Netherlands. Funding was provided by the Ministry of Public Health with supplemental support of Eli Lilly Romania SRL. The Psychiatric Enquiry to General Population in Southeast Spain – Murcia (PEGASUS-Murcia) Project has been financed by the Regional Health Authorities of Murcia (Servicio Murciano de Salud and Consejería de Sanidad y Política Social) and Fundación para la Formación e Investigación Sanitarias (FFIS) of Murcia. The US National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; U01-MH60220) with supplemental support from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF; Grant 044708), and the John W. Alden Trust.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

mental disorders
mental health treatment
perceived need for treatment
Mental disorders
Perceived need for treatment
Mental health treatment

Access to Document

10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

s13033-025-00661-1Final published version, 866 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

Stein, D. J., Vigo, D. V., Harris, M. G., Kazdin, A. E., Viana, M. C., Hwang, I., Kessler, T. L., Manoukian, S. M., Sampson, N. A., Alonso, J., Andrade, L. H., Benjet, C., Bruffaerts, R., Bunting, B., Cardoso, G., Chardoul, S., de Girolamo, G., de Jonge, P., Gureje, O., ... Zaslavsky, A. M. (2025). Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 19(1), 1-18. Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

@article{f7aed03035ea4b48891ac7fef31642ee,

title = "Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need",

abstract = "Background Data from the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys on the coverage cascade has underscored the importance of perceived need for seeking treatment of mental disorders. However, little research has focused on treatment contact after adjusting for perceived need. We do so here in analysis of WMH data. Methods The WMH data considered here come from 25 community surveys implemented between 2001 and 2019 across 21 countries. n = 12,508 of the n = 117,739 respondents in these surveys aged 18 and older met criteria for one or more 12-month DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders assessed across all these surveys. Information was obtained about 12-month treatment of each disorder. The predictors considered were disorder type, socio-demographics, and history of prior treatment. Results Twelve-month treatment was obtained for 17.7\% of the n = 18,702 12-month person-disorders in the sample, including 34.1\% for the 46.5\% with perceived need and 3.5\% for the 54.5\% without perceived need. After adjusting for perceived need, receiving treatment was most strongly associated with disorder characteristics (severity, and highest for major depressive, panic/agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorders; lowest for substance use disorders), health insurance, employment status (highest for students, the retired, and the unemployed/disabled), and several aspects of prior treatment. These associations were generally similar in cases with and without perceived need for treatment. 12-month treatment among cases who without perceived need and without history of prior treatment was rare (1.1\%). Conclusions Findings highlight the critical importance of perceived need for obtaining 12-month treatment in the context of other significant predictors involving complexity and severity of disorders and socio-demographic factors. The importance of prior treatment history was quite striking, as was the finding that absence of both perceived need and prior treatment history were associated with a nearly complete absence of treatment. Policy recommendations emerging from these results include the need to increase health literacy, reduce the stigmatization of mental disorder, enhance access through health insurance, and improve the quality of care given the clear evidence that prior experiences with treatment play an important role in determining the likelihood of again seeking treatment for current problems.",

keywords = "mental disorders, mental health treatment, perceived need for treatment, Mental disorders, Perceived need for treatment, Mental health treatment",

author = "Stein, \{Dan J.\} and Vigo, \{Daniel V.\} and Harris, \{Meredith G.\} and Kazdin, \{Alan E.\} and Viana, \{Maria Carmen\} and Irving Hwang and Kessler, \{Timothy L.\} and Manoukian, \{Sophie M.\} and Sampson, \{Nancy A.\} and Jordi Alonso and Andrade, \{Laura Helena\} and Corina Benjet and Ronny Bruffaerts and Brendan Bunting and Gra{\c c}a Cardoso and Stephanie Chardoul and \{de Girolamo\}, Giovanni and \{de Jonge\}, Peter and Oye Gureje and Haro, \{Josep Maria\} and Karam, \{Elie G.\} and Viviane Kovess-Masfety and Jacek Moskalewicz and Fernando Navarro-Mateu and Daisuke Nishi and Jos{\'e} Posada-Villa and Kate Scott and Stagnaro, \{Juan Carlos\} and Cristian Vladescu and Jacek Wci{\'o}rka and Zahari Zarkov and Kessler, \{Ronald C.\} and Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola and Ali Al-Hamzawi and Altwaijri, \{Yasmin A.\} and Lukoye Atwoli and Guilherme Borges and Bromet, \{Evelyn J.\} and Caldas-de-Almeida, \{Jose Miguel\} and C{\'i}a, \{Alfredo H.\} and Louisa Degenhardt and \{de Guzman\}, \{Ma. Lourdes Rosanna E.\} and Hristo Hinkov and Chi-Yi Hu and Karam, \{Aimee Nasser\} and Georges Karam and Norito Kawakami and Salma Khaled and Andrzej Kiejna and McGrath, \{John J.\} and Medina-Mora, \{Maria Elena\} and Marina Piazza and Scott, \{Kate M.\} and \{Ten Have\}, Margreet and Yolanda Torres and Williams, \{David R.\} and Bogdan Wojtyniak and Peter Woodruff and Miguel Xavier and Zaslavsky, \{Alan M.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = mar,

day = "14",

doi = "10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

pages = "1--18",

journal = "International Journal of Mental Health Systems",

publisher = "BioMed Central Ltd.",

number = "1",

}

Stein, DJ, Vigo, DV, Harris, MG, Kazdin, AE, Viana, MC, Hwang, I, Kessler, TL, Manoukian, SM, Sampson, NA, Alonso, J, Andrade, LH, Benjet, C, Bruffaerts, R, Bunting, B, Cardoso, G, Chardoul, S, de Girolamo, G, de Jonge, P, Gureje, O, Haro, JM, Karam, EG, Kovess-Masfety, V, Moskalewicz, J, Navarro-Mateu, F, Nishi, D, Posada-Villa, J, Scott, K, Stagnaro, JC, Vladescu, C, Wciórka, J, Zarkov, Z, Kessler, RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola, S, Al-Hamzawi, A, Altwaijri, YA, Atwoli, L, Borges, G, Bromet, EJ, Caldas-de-Almeida, JM, Cía, AH, Degenhardt, L, de Guzman, MLRE, Hinkov, H, Hu, C-Y, Karam, AN, Karam, G, Kawakami, N, Khaled, S, Kiejna, A, McGrath, JJ, Medina-Mora, ME, Piazza, M, Scott, KM, Ten Have, M, Torres, Y, Williams, DR, Wojtyniak, B, Woodruff, P, Xavier, M & Zaslavsky, AM 2025, 'Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need', International Journal of Mental Health Systems, vol. 19, no. 1, 10, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need. / Stein, Dan J.; Vigo, Daniel V.; Harris, Meredith G. et al.
In: International Journal of Mental Health Systems, Vol. 19, No. 1, 10, 14.03.2025, p. 1-18.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need

AU - Stein, Dan J.

AU - Vigo, Daniel V.

AU - Harris, Meredith G.

AU - Kazdin, Alan E.

AU - Viana, Maria Carmen

AU - Hwang, Irving

AU - Kessler, Timothy L.

AU - Manoukian, Sophie M.

AU - Sampson, Nancy A.

AU - Alonso, Jordi

AU - Andrade, Laura Helena

AU - Benjet, Corina

AU - Bruffaerts, Ronny

AU - Bunting, Brendan

AU - Cardoso, Graça

AU - Chardoul, Stephanie

AU - de Girolamo, Giovanni

AU - de Jonge, Peter

AU - Gureje, Oye

AU - Haro, Josep Maria

AU - Karam, Elie G.

AU - Kovess-Masfety, Viviane

AU - Moskalewicz, Jacek

AU - Navarro-Mateu, Fernando

AU - Nishi, Daisuke

AU - Posada-Villa, José

AU - Scott, Kate

AU - Stagnaro, Juan Carlos

AU - Vladescu, Cristian

AU - Wciórka, Jacek

AU - Zarkov, Zahari

AU - Kessler, Ronald C.

AU - Aguilar-Gaxiola, Sergio

AU - Al-Hamzawi, Ali

AU - Altwaijri, Yasmin A.

AU - Atwoli, Lukoye

AU - Borges, Guilherme

AU - Bromet, Evelyn J.

AU - Caldas-de-Almeida, Jose Miguel

AU - Cía, Alfredo H.

AU - Degenhardt, Louisa

AU - de Guzman, Ma. Lourdes Rosanna E.

AU - Hinkov, Hristo

AU - Hu, Chi-Yi

AU - Karam, Aimee Nasser

AU - Karam, Georges

AU - Kawakami, Norito

AU - Khaled, Salma

AU - Kiejna, Andrzej

AU - McGrath, John J.

AU - Medina-Mora, Maria Elena

AU - Piazza, Marina

AU - Scott, Kate M.

AU - Ten Have, Margreet

AU - Torres, Yolanda

AU - Williams, David R.

AU - Wojtyniak, Bogdan

AU - Woodruff, Peter

AU - Xavier, Miguel

AU - Zaslavsky, Alan M.

PY - 2025/3/14

Y1 - 2025/3/14

N2 - Background Data from the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys on the coverage cascade has underscored the importance of perceived need for seeking treatment of mental disorders. However, little research has focused on treatment contact after adjusting for perceived need. We do so here in analysis of WMH data. Methods The WMH data considered here come from 25 community surveys implemented between 2001 and 2019 across 21 countries. n = 12,508 of the n = 117,739 respondents in these surveys aged 18 and older met criteria for one or more 12-month DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders assessed across all these surveys. Information was obtained about 12-month treatment of each disorder. The predictors considered were disorder type, socio-demographics, and history of prior treatment. Results Twelve-month treatment was obtained for 17.7% of the n = 18,702 12-month person-disorders in the sample, including 34.1% for the 46.5% with perceived need and 3.5% for the 54.5% without perceived need. After adjusting for perceived need, receiving treatment was most strongly associated with disorder characteristics (severity, and highest for major depressive, panic/agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorders; lowest for substance use disorders), health insurance, employment status (highest for students, the retired, and the unemployed/disabled), and several aspects of prior treatment. These associations were generally similar in cases with and without perceived need for treatment. 12-month treatment among cases who without perceived need and without history of prior treatment was rare (1.1%). Conclusions Findings highlight the critical importance of perceived need for obtaining 12-month treatment in the context of other significant predictors involving complexity and severity of disorders and socio-demographic factors. The importance of prior treatment history was quite striking, as was the finding that absence of both perceived need and prior treatment history were associated with a nearly complete absence of treatment. Policy recommendations emerging from these results include the need to increase health literacy, reduce the stigmatization of mental disorder, enhance access through health insurance, and improve the quality of care given the clear evidence that prior experiences with treatment play an important role in determining the likelihood of again seeking treatment for current problems.

AB - Background Data from the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys on the coverage cascade has underscored the importance of perceived need for seeking treatment of mental disorders. However, little research has focused on treatment contact after adjusting for perceived need. We do so here in analysis of WMH data. Methods The WMH data considered here come from 25 community surveys implemented between 2001 and 2019 across 21 countries. n = 12,508 of the n = 117,739 respondents in these surveys aged 18 and older met criteria for one or more 12-month DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders assessed across all these surveys. Information was obtained about 12-month treatment of each disorder. The predictors considered were disorder type, socio-demographics, and history of prior treatment. Results Twelve-month treatment was obtained for 17.7% of the n = 18,702 12-month person-disorders in the sample, including 34.1% for the 46.5% with perceived need and 3.5% for the 54.5% without perceived need. After adjusting for perceived need, receiving treatment was most strongly associated with disorder characteristics (severity, and highest for major depressive, panic/agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorders; lowest for substance use disorders), health insurance, employment status (highest for students, the retired, and the unemployed/disabled), and several aspects of prior treatment. These associations were generally similar in cases with and without perceived need for treatment. 12-month treatment among cases who without perceived need and without history of prior treatment was rare (1.1%). Conclusions Findings highlight the critical importance of perceived need for obtaining 12-month treatment in the context of other significant predictors involving complexity and severity of disorders and socio-demographic factors. The importance of prior treatment history was quite striking, as was the finding that absence of both perceived need and prior treatment history were associated with a nearly complete absence of treatment. Policy recommendations emerging from these results include the need to increase health literacy, reduce the stigmatization of mental disorder, enhance access through health insurance, and improve the quality of care given the clear evidence that prior experiences with treatment play an important role in determining the likelihood of again seeking treatment for current problems.

KW - mental disorders

KW - mental health treatment

KW - perceived need for treatment

KW - Mental disorders

KW - Perceived need for treatment

KW - Mental health treatment

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105000451769

U2 - 10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

DO - 10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

M3 - Article

C2 - 40082956

VL - 19

SP - 1

EP - 18

JO - International Journal of Mental Health Systems

JF - International Journal of Mental Health Systems

IS - 1

M1 - 10

ER -

Stein DJ, Vigo DV, Harris MG, Kazdin AE, Viana MC, Hwang I et al. Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need. International Journal of Mental Health Systems. 2025 Mar 14;19(1):1-18. 10. Epub 2025 Mar 14. doi: 10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1

Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: treatment in the context of perceived need

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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