---
title: "Psych News Alert: SAMHSA Announces State Estimates of Adult Mental Illness"
description: Hawaii and South Dakota have the lowest rate of serious mental illness, while Rhode Island has the highest. The national rate of serious men...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/hawaii_35340154-Jun-24-2025-07-42-45-0732-PM.jpg
---

 10/7/11 12:00 AM

# SAMHSA Announces State Estimates of Adult Mental Illness

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/hawaii_35340154-Jun-24-2025-07-42-44-0878-PM.jpg?width=200&height=130&name=hawaii_35340154-Jun-24-2025-07-42-44-0878-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/hawaii_35340154-Jun-24-2025-07-42-43-1820-PM.jpg) 

Hawaii and South Dakota have the lowest rate of serious mental illness, while Rhode Island has the highest. The national rate of serious mental illness is 4.6 percent. That’s according to findings from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2008 and 2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), released yesterday.

The NSDUH Report presented state-level estimates of serious mental illness based on data collected from 92,233 adults aged 18 or older and estimates of any mental illness based on data from 68,936 adults aged 18 or older. SAMHSA defines mental illness based on diagnostic criteria in *DSM-IV*. Among adults with a disorder, those whose disorder caused substantial functional impairment are defined as having serious mental illness and the most urgent need for treatment. “Information on the prevalence of mental illness is critically needed to help guide the provision of effective treatment and prevention programs to restore lives and to reduce economic and societal costs,” said SAMHSA.

The NSDUH report is available at [www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1110055020.aspx](http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1110055020.aspx) .

To read about recent findings from the NSDUH survey on substance abuse trends, see *Psychiatric News* at [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/44/20/4.1.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/44/20/4.1.full).   
 

(Image: Kaarsten/Shutterstock.com)

[samhsa](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/samhsa), [serious mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/serious-mental-illness), [nsduh](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/nsduh)

## Related posts

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_125096129-Jun-24-2025-10-23-01-7252-PM.jpg?height=200&name=shutterstock_125096129-Jun-24-2025-10-23-01-7252-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/06/study-shows-association-between-mental.html)

[employment](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/employment), [mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/mental-illness), [Psychiatric Services](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/psychiatric-services)

## [Study Shows Association Between Mental Illness Severity and Employment and Income](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/06/study-shows-association-between-mental.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 6/17/14 12:00 AM

More severe mental illness appears to be associated with lower employment rates in recent years,...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/06/study-shows-association-between-mental.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/SmokingCig_70923706-Jun-24-2025-09-45-08-6378-PM.jpg?height=200&name=SmokingCig_70923706-Jun-24-2025-09-45-08-6378-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/11/psychiatric-institutions-must-help.html)

[smoking](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/smoking), [smoking cessation](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/smoking-cessation), [mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/mental-illness), [smoking and mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/smoking-and-mental-illness)

## [Psychiatric Institutions Must Help Patients Quit Smoking](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/11/psychiatric-institutions-must-help.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 11/16/11 12:00 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/11/psychiatric-institutions-must-help.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AdultWomen_132295118-Jun-24-2025-07-14-15-6926-PM.jpg?height=200&name=AdultWomen_132295118-Jun-24-2025-07-14-15-6926-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/people-with-mental-illness-define-their.html)

[psychiatry](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/psychiatry), [serious mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/serious-mental-illness), [Psychiatric Services](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/psychiatric-services), [UCLA](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/ucla)

## [People with Mental Illness Define "Community" Their Own Way](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/people-with-mental-illness-define-their.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 4/18/13 12:00 AM

That place where everybody knows your name is crucial for persons with serious mental illness. “The...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/people-with-mental-illness-define-their.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert",
    "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T19:45:02.483Z",
  "datePublished" : "2011-10-07T04:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Psych News Alert: SAMHSA Announces State Estimates of Adult Mental Illness",
  "image" : [ "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/hawaii_35340154-Jun-24-2025-07-42-45-0732-PM.jpg" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/samhsa-announces-state-estimates-of.html",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg"
    }
  }
}
```