The environment in which we live can sometimes become our definition of normal, but how does West Virginia compare to the other states when it comes to mental health? At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, we think that knowledge is power, and we want to empower the people of our state to understand mental health.
Statistics Describing West Virginia’s Mental Health
While statistics don’t tell the whole story, they can help to demonstrate areas of concern, for example:
- Excessive Drinking. This is one area where West Virginia looks really good. Only 14 percent of adults in West Virginia reported binge drinking or heavy drinking in the past month. Only Utah and Oklahoma fare better in this domain.
- Suicide. As of 2020, around 19.4 per 100,000 people in West Virginia died from intentional self-harm. That is more than 350 people per year. This was higher than the national average of 13.5 per 100,000 people.
- Mental Distress. Around the same number, 19.4 percent of West Virginians, stated that their mental health was poor 14 or more of the past 30 days. This places Virginia 47th out of 50 among all of the states.
- Depression. 30.2 percent of adults in West Virginia report that they have been told by a health professional that they have had some form of depression, making West Virginia the state with the highest rate of depression in the country. 8 of the 10 most depressed counties in the country are in West Virginia.
- Non-Medical Drug Use. Around 21.9 percent of West Virginia’s adults reported using prescription drugs for non-medical reasons or taking illicit substances in the past year. Only Washington state, New York, and Nevada fared worse on this measure.
- Drug Deaths. Drug injuries, which include accidental suicides and homicides, occur at a rate of 77.8 per 100,000 people in West Virginia. West Virginia is again ranked worst in the country by this measure.
- Physical Activity. Getting enough exercise is directly linked to both physical and mental health. West Virginia ranks 48th out of 50, with only about 20.6 percent of adults getting the federally recommended amount of exercise.
Contributing Factors
There is a wide range of issues that can increase the likelihood of the outcomes listed above, which include:
- Mental Health Access. West Virginia has about 223 mental health providers per 100,000 people, ranking 46th nationally. As a result, accessing timely diagnoses and treatment is often more difficult than in most other states. Residents are also about twice as likely as those elsewhere to be forced out-of-network to use their mental-health benefits, driving up costs. In schools, the state has only one school psychologist for every 1,881 students—far below the recommended ratio of 1:500, leaving students with less than one-third of the recommended support.
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). 22 percent of young people in West Virginia have experienced two or more potentially traumatic events before the age of 18. High numbers of ACEs are linked to mental health issues later in life.
- Poverty. 1 in 7 West Virginians live in poverty, which is nearly 287,000 people. The state has the fourth-highest overall and fifth-highest child poverty rate in the nation.
- Stigma. 82 percent of patients receiving mental health services in West Virginia indicated that they felt there was a negative perception around mental health. Surveys have also indicated that people living in rural areas often don’t feel encouraged or motivated by friends and family to seek out professional support for mental health concerns. This is particularly true in Appalachia.
- Low Mental Health Literacy. West Virginia has a lot of people who don’t recognize the n signs of mental illness or don’t know how to get support for mental illness. 66 percent of mentally ill West Virginians surveyed indicated that they had an average to below average understanding of mental health.
- Transportation Barriers. Many people in West Virginia rely on emergency departments or hospitalization to address mental health needs, because they struggle to get to appointments or refill medication, due to having inadequate transportation.
What Can Be Done?
Some changes can be made in West Virginia to address the issues impacting mental health in child and adult populations. This includes:
- Reducing child poverty rates through tax credits, childcare subsidies, and higher wages
- Educating parents about ways they can prevent and address ACEs in their families
- Increasing access to mental health education and services
- Strengthening school-based mental health programs
- Expanding the use of telehealth for mental health and substance use treatment, to overcome transportation barriers and provider shortages
- Expanding and supporting the mental health workforce
Highland Hospital Behavioral Health has been serving the Charleston, West Virginia area for more than 70 years. We are invested in the mental health of our state and our community.
