Welch Medical Library Guides: Finding Health Statistics: Mental Health

Searching for mental health data - First Step

Search strategies for mental health data apply to all other health data. The first step is to think about which agency or organization will sponsor the collection of the data. Then you can use either the name of the agency/organization in a search query ("depression statistics AND CDC" or explore their websites to learn what datasets have been collected by them. Major agencies and organizations that collect mental health data are:

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
National Institue of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institue of Mental Health (NIMH)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (JWJF)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Key Databases on Mental Health

Adverse Childhood Experience data in BRFSS
Many states are collecting information about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
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To access state-level data, contact the coordinators:
https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/state_info/coordinators.htm
Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001-2003
CPES were initiated in recognition of the need for contemporary, comprehensive epidemiological data regarding the distributions, correlates and risk factors of mental disorders among the general population with special emphasis on minority groups. CPES joins together three nationally representative surveys: the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), the National Survey of American Life(NSAL), and the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS).
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The primary objective of the CPES was to collect data about the prevalence of mental disorders, impairments associated with these disorders, and their treatment patterns from representative samples of majority and minority adult populations in the United States. Secondary goals were to obtain information about language use and ethnic disparities, support systems, discrimination and assimilation, in order to examine whether and how closely various mental health disorders are linked to social and cultural issues.
Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)
DAWN is a public health surveillance system that monitors drug-related hospital ED visits and deaths. Access the data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA).
Epidemiologic Data (NIAAA)
NIAAA is a source of authoritative data on alcohol epidemiology for researchers and the general public. This website provides links to statistical summaries of data collected or compiled by NIAAA on alcohol consumption, alcohol-related mortality and morbidity, and other alcohol-related problems and consequences.
HCUP Statistical Briefs - Mental and Substance Use Disorders
hese HCUP Statistical Briefs provide statistics about mental and substance use disorders treated in U.S. hospitals. Topics include depression, drug abuse, and eating disorders.
Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
HRS is a national longitudinal study of economic, physical and mental health, marital and family status, as well as public and private support systems of older Americans.
Healthy Minds Study (by University of Michigan)
HMS is an annual web-based survey-based study examining mental health and related issues (depression, anxiety, substance use) and service utilization among college students. Data and supplemental materials are available upon request.
Monitoring the Future (MTF)
MTF annual surveys were designed to explore changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth, with a particular emphasis on recent trends in the use of licit and illicit drugs. Its Public-Use Cross-Sectional Datasets are available on ICPSR.
National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program
Since NAHDAP is sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a federal agency, users obtain data from NAHDAP at no charge. To access data files, users must login to ICPSR with an ICPSR MyData account or an existing Google or Facebook account. Johns Hopkins users can also member-only data. Restricted data is available to qualified researchers.
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
NHIS is a multipurpose health survey conducted continuously since 1957 by National Center for Health Statistics to obtain national information about the incidence and distribution of illness, its effects in terms of disability and chronic imparitments, and the type of health services people receive.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - Statistics
The information on these pages includes currently available statistics on the prevalence and treatment of mental illnesses among the U.S. population. In addition, information is provided about possible consequences of mental illnesses, such as suicide and disability.
National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA)
The NDA makes available human subjects data collected from hundreds of research projects across many scientific domains. De-identified human subjects data, harmonized to a common standard, are available only to qualified researchers. Summary data are available to general public.
National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS)
NLAAS provides national information on the similarities and differences in mental illness and service use of Latinos and Asian Americans.
The NLAAS dataset can be downloaded from ICPSR.
National Survey of American Life - Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), 2001-2004
NSAL-A was designed to estimate the lifetime-to-date and current prevalence, age-of-onset distributions, course, and comorbidity of DSM-IV disorders among African American and Caribbean adolescents in the United States; to identify risk and protective factors for the onset and persistence of these disorders; to describe patterns and correlates of service use for these disorders; and to lay the groundwork for subsequent follow-up studies that can be used to identify early expressions of adult mental disorders.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA)
SAMHSA is the leading source of behavioral health data in the United States. It provides public-use data files, file documentation, and access to restricted-use data files. Datasets are:
- Drug Abuse Warning Network
- Mental Health Client-Level Data
- National Mental Health Services Survey
- National Survey on Drug Use and Health
- National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services
- Treatment Episode Data Set

Further Resources - AZ list, Webinars and More

Finding Mental Health Data by Young-Joo Lee (Data Informationist)
Welch Library regularly offers a class on finding data. Below are slides of the class "Finding Mental Health Data for Your Research" offered on December 16, 2020.
Sources for Behavioral Health and Health Services Research Data Analysis
This is an extensive resource guide put together by prominent researchers in the field including Dr. William Eaton, Professor, Dept of Mental Health, BJHSPH. Published in 2016, sponsored by SAMHSA.

National Health Interview Survey 2019: webinar

In 2019, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) included screening measures for anxiety and depression in adults and new questions about the receipt of mental health care among both school-aged children and adults. This webinar will highlight the release of new NCHS reports on anxiety and depression among adults and mental health treatment among children and adults, as well as recent experimental data on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic from the COVID-19 Household Pulse Survey.

Rising Suicide Rate: Examing Trends and Variations through State-level Data: webinar

This webinar will investigate the suicide statistics using the National Vital Statistics System (by CDC) using WONDER (Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research) and State Health Compare (by SHADAC).

Links to the recording and slides: webinar and slides.