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Most mental illness hits early in life, with half of all cases starting by age 14, a survey of nearly 10,000 U.S. adults found.
Many cases begin with mild, easy-to-dismiss symptoms such as low-level anxiousness or persistent shyness, but left untreated, they can quickly escalate into severe depression, disabling phobias or clinical anxiety, said Ronald Kessler, a Harvard Medical School researcher involved in the study.
That so many cases begin in people so young — three-fourths start by age 24 — "is just staggering" and underscores the need for better efforts at early detection and treatment, Kessler said.
"These disorders have really become the chronic disorders of young people in America," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the research.
The findings, published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, were based on face-to-face interviews conducted with people ages 18 and older in 2001 through 2003.
The new figures also show that the prevalence of mental illness nationwide has stabilized for the first time since the end of World War II, Kessler said.
About 46 percent of people surveyed said they had experienced a mental illness at some point in their lives, and about 26 percent said they had within the previous year — rates similar to those reported in a 1994 version of the survey. Before the earlier survey, rates had steadily increased since the mid-1940s, Kessler said.
The previous increase was probably at least partly due to better detection and awareness, Kessler said.
The overall prevalence rate is probably an underestimate because the study included only English-speaking adults and excluded rarer illnesses such as schizophrenia and autism.
Most ailments were mild. Only about one-fifth of those who reported any mental disorder within the past year had a serious illness, meaning their daily activities were severely affected.
最近公布的一项对于1万名美国成年人的调查结果显示，相当一部分精神病患者在年龄很小的时候便已出现相关症状，其中一半病例的发病时间开始于14岁左右。
据美联社6月7日报道，研究人员在2001年到2003年间对年龄不小于18岁的采样人群进行了面对面的访谈，并将调查结论刊登在6月号的《普通精神病学文献集》上。
调查显示，很多患者的最初症状轻微且易于摆脱，诸如轻微的焦虑或持续性的害羞等，但如果不及时诊治，它们会迅速发展成为严重的抑郁情绪、导致丧失行为能力的恐惧、临床焦虑等。
参与此项调查的哈佛大学医院研究员凯斯勒表示，这么多人在如此年轻的时候便开始发病——四分之三的患者在24岁之前便已表现出某些症状——“这的确令人感到十分惊讶”，同时也凸现出加强早期诊断和治疗的必要性。
美国国家精神健康研究院院长托马斯·因赛尔博士说："美国年轻人经历的最初的心理失调已经真正演变成为慢性精神紊乱。"
约有46%的被调查者表示，他们都曾经在过去生活的某个阶段遭遇过精神疾病的袭击，而大约26%的人则声称自己在最近一年中刚刚体验过这种痛苦--该比例与1994年的调查结果相近。凯斯勒透露，在更早以前，同类比例从上世纪40年代中期开始，一直呈稳定的上升态势。
凯斯勒认为，这些新的数字还表明，精神病在全美范围内的流行程度在二战后首次趋于稳定。以前报告的上升趋势或许应部分归功于诊治技术的不断进步。
这次研究所得出的精神病总流行比例或许比实际情况要低一些，因为其调查对象只包括了讲英语的成年人，而且还排除了那些患有较为罕见的精神病--比如精神分裂症和自闭症患者。
大部分精神病患者的日常表现是非常平和的。在那些被认为处于某种精神紊乱状态的人中，只有大约五分之一的人在过去一年中有过剧烈的精神病发作，也就是说他们的日常生活因精神原因受到了严重影响。
