How the American Healthcare System Rewards Psychiatric Overdiagnosis

Adam Omary and Jeffrey A. Singer

Psychiatric diagnoses in the United States are rising across virtually every category, in every age group. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, more than one in five US adults—59.3 million people—lived with a mental illness in 2022. An estimated 49.5 percent of American adolescents have met diagnostic criteria for at least one mental disorder at some point in their lifetime. Additionally, about 31 percent of adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives...