Statistics and Quick Facts 

Included in this section are mental health related statistics and facts from a variety of sources. Some of the figures and findings are part of a more detailed report or publication provided in the Reports and Publications section. In such cases, the specific report title is included in parentheses. The intent of this section is to highlight key statistics that assist in understanding matters related to mental health such as the prevalence of common mental health problems and, to the extent possible, the impact of these problems on individuals.

Did You Know? . . .

1. Approximately 16% of Albertans visited a physician for mental health services in a single year. 

2. Health regions in Alberta provided mental health services to 24% more Albertan's in 2004 than in 2001.

3. In 2004/05, more than 40,000 Albertans visited emergency rooms for mental health problems.

4. There was a 15% increase in the number of patient days generated for individuals with mental health problems in Alberta between 2001 and 2004.

5. Over 100 additional beds were used across Alberta for mental health in 2004 as compared to 2001. Most of these additional beds were “off service” or general/medical beds.

6. The use of Telehealth (the delivery of health-related services and information via videoconferencing) for mental health clinical consultations increased by 38% in the three year period between 2002 to 2004.

7. Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders accounted for 15% of inpatient mental health diagnoses at regional acute and psychiatric facilities, and 7% of outpatients and community services diagnoses in 2004/05.

8. More individuals accessed physicians for anxiety disorders than for any of the other mental health diagnoses.

9. Individuals diagnosed with mood disorders generated higher number of consultations to physicians than any other mental health disorder.

• View Mental Health Needs of Albertans: Select Factors and Findings

• Mental disorders are accounting for an ever increasing portion of the relative burden of all health disorders:
  
  1990 - 10%
  2000 - 12%
  2020 - 15% (estimate)
  
  The World Health Report 2001, Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope, World Health Organization (WHO), 2001.

• View The World Health Report.

How Common are Mental Health Problems?

• Each year, over 500,000 Albertans (approximately 16% of the population) receive at least one mental health service from a physician.¹

Learn more about this topic in the Physicians’ Report.

• In a three year period, over 33%, or 1 in 3 Albertans receive at least one mental health service from a physician.

These rates are underestimates of the prevalence of  mental health problems because they do not reflect the services that some individuals receive services from private providers. These rates also do not reflect those individuals who do not seek treatment for their mental health problems, suggesting that the prevalence of mental health problems is higher.

There are many reasons why an individual may not seek treatment including:

• Lack of insight into symptoms
• Limited awareness of available resources
• Challenges related to accessing services
• Fear and stigma associated with mental health problems or illness

Another way to describe the prevalence of mental disorders is by examining Lifetime Prevalence Rates. Lifetime prevalence is defined as the percentage of respondents from a population that report having a mental or behavioural disorder at least once in their lifetime.

In a recent study of the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders, the following highlights were found:

• “Lifetime prevalence for the different classes of disorders was: anxiety disorders, 28.8%; mood disorders, 20.8%; impulse-control disorders, 24.8%; substance use disorders, 14.6% and any (mental health) disorder, 46.4%.”
  Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, et al: Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry 62:593–602, 2005.

The top five reasons why Albertans accessed a physician for mental health problems were:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Developmental Disorders: Development Disorders include a range of diagnostic categories such as: learning and communication related disorders, pervasive developmental disorders (such as Autism and Asperger’s Disorder) as well as attention deficit disorders and conduct disorders. These disorders are more commonly diagnosed in children.
• Substance-related Disorders
• Adjustment Disorders: Adjustment Disorders are defined as significant emotional or behavioural symptoms that develop in response to a stressor. The stressor could be related to a variety of situations as: financial, relationship, phase of life, being a victim of a crime, experiencing a natural disaster.

More information and details about this topic are found in the Physicians’ Report.

Suicides in Alberta

• Suicide is consistently a leading cause of death among Albertans. Suicide claims more lives annually than other more openly discussed issues such as motor vehicle collisions, AIDS or homicides.
• Alberta typically has a higher rate of suicide than the national average. The following chart shows the rate of suicides per 100,000 population for Alberta compared to the national rate: Suicides In Canada_Alberta.pdf

Intentional Self Harm

Intentional self-harm includes both suicide attempts and other intentional self-inflicted injuries where an intent to die may not be present.

In addition to the people who died by suicide in Alberta in 2004/05, there were 6,052 visits to emergency rooms and 2,163 hospitalizations for intentional self-inflicted injuries.

Visit the Suicide Prevention section of this website to learn more about these topics, including A CALL TO ACTION: The Alberta Suicide Prevention Strategy.