Mental Health Providers

Mental Health Providers in United States

United States

Mental health providers offer essential care to adults and children with mental or behavioral disorders through assessments, diagnoses, treatments, medications and therapeutic interventions. The mental health workforce includes a broad array of professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, professionals treating alcohol and other drug abuse and advanced practice nurses specializing in mental health care. 

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, about 1 in 5 Americans experienced a mental illness (not including substance abuse disorders) in 2020. Still only 46.2% of adults with any mental illness and 64.5% of those with a severe mental illness reported receiving treatment in the past year. 

An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than 129 million Americans live in mental health care professional shortage areas and only 28.1% of mental health care needs are being met. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing reported that 77% of counties in the United States are experiencing a severe shortage of mental health providers. Demand for mental health professionals is projected to increase during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

While most of the population (70%) lives close to a mental health treatment facility (less than 10 miles), mental health provider shortages remain common. Populations with limited access to mental health care include:

• Rural communities.
• Low-income communities.
• Communities with a higher percentage of Black or Hispanic individuals.

Strategies to cope with shortages and to increase the number of mental health professionals include:

• Increasing the use of telemedicine.
• Using workforce development programs to provide mental health training to advanced practice nurses and primary care physicians.
• Encouraging current medical students to become psychiatrists.
• Offering incentives to providers to practice in areas with a shortage of health professionals, like the National Health Service Corps’ Rural Community Loan Repayment Program.
• Providing adequate reimbursement for psychiatric services.
• Integrating mental health into primary care settings, especially for younger populations.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple objectives related to mental health, including: 

• Increasing the proportion of adults with depression who get treatment.
• Increasing the proportion of adults with serious mental illness who get treatment.
• Increasing the proportion of primary care visits where adolescents and adults are screened for depression.

“2020 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives and the Impact of COVID-19.” Dallas, TX: Merritt Hawkins, AMN Healthcare, 2020. https://www.merritthawkins.com/uploadedFiles/Merritt_Hawkins_Incentive_Review_2020.pdf.

Bashshur, Rashid L., Gary W. Shannon, Noura Bashshur, and Peter M. Yellowlees. “The Empirical Evidence for Telemedicine Interventions in Mental Disorders.” Telemedicine and E-Health 22, no. 2 (February 2016): 87–113. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2015.0206.

Butryn, Tracy, Leah Bryant, Christine Marchionni, and Farhad Sholevar. “The Shortage of Psychiatrists and Other Mental Health Providers: Causes, Current State, and Potential Solutions.” International Journal of Academic Medicine 3, no. 1 (2017): 5–9. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJAM.IJAM_49_17.

Cummings, Janet R., Lindsay Allen, Julie Clennon, Xu Ji, and Benjamin G. Druss. “Geographic Access to Specialty Mental Health Care Across High- and Low-Income US Communities.” JAMA Psychiatry 74, no. 5 (May 1, 2017): 476. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.0303.

Cummings, Janet R., Hefei Wen, Michelle Ko, and Benjamin G. Druss. “Geography and the Medicaid Mental Health Care Infrastructure: Implications for Health Care Reform.” JAMA Psychiatry 70, no. 10 (October 1, 2013): 1084. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.377.

National Council for Mental Wellbeing. “The Psychiatric Shortage: Causes and Solutions.” Medical Director Institute, March 2017. https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Revised-Final-Access-Paper.pdf.

Patel, Vikram, Alan J. Flisher, Sarah Hetrick, and Patrick McGorry. “Mental Health of Young People: A Global Public-Health Challenge.” The Lancet 369, no. 9569 (April 14, 2007): 1302–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60368-7.