This figure is "up one percentage point from the CDC surveys conducted from 1993 to 2001." Among the findings, "some states seem to be faring decidedly worse than others." For example, "West Virginia had the highest percentage of residents, 14.9 percent, who reported frequent mental distress in the 2003-2006 survey," whereas "Kentucky had 14.4 percent." Additional "states with higher than average rates included Alabama, Arkansas, and Indiana."

In Hawaii, however, "it's rarer to have string of stressed-out days...than in any other state," WebMD (4/14, Hitti) added. For the study, "participants were asked by phone how many of the previous 30 days their mental health -- including stress, depression, and emotional problems -- was 'not good.'" Participants "who said their mental health was 'not good' at least 14 out of the previous 30 days had 'frequent mental distress,'" the researchers said. Notably, "the study doesn't pinpoint the causes of mental distress and resources available to help people cope."

Two-thirds of primary-care physicians say they had trouble finding high-quality mental-health treatment for patients, survey says. Following a CQ HealthBeat story, Shirley S. Wang wrote in the Wall Street Journal (4/14) Health Blog that "two-thirds of primary-care physicians in a nationwide survey said they had trouble finding high-quality mental-health treatment for their patients, while only a third had difficulty getting patients a referral to specialists for other types of medical services, according to a study published in Health Affairs" on Apr. 14. The physicians attributed "absent or inadequate insurance coverage and a lack of mental-health providers" as some of the "top reasons" for "the difficulty in getting high-quality mental-health referrals for patients."

Study author Paul Cunningham, of the Center for Studying Health System Change, said that "from the perspective of primary-care physicians, 'the findings from this study strong suggest that lack of access to mental health services is a serious problem -- much more serious than for other commonly used medical services.'"

Focusing on the study's methodology, Modern Healthcare (4/15, Zigmond) explains, "Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study included a nationally representative sample of about 6,600 nonfederal physicians who spend at least 20 hours per week in patient care." The "interviews were conducted by telephone, and the final response rate was 52 percent for a total of about 2,900 primary-care physicians in family medicine, general internal medicine, and pediatrics."