mental health can cause disability
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Summary: Yes, mental health disorders can cause disability. In addition to emotional and psychological distress, the disruption caused by mental health disorders can affect both day quality of life and disability-related premature mortality.

Key Points:

  • Millions of people worldwide have mental health disorders.
  • Rates of mental health disorders have increased significantly over the past three decades.
  • Experts quantify the burden – i.e. problems caused – by mental health disorders as years lived with disability (YLD), years of life lost (YLLL), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
  • Mental health disorders rank high among causes of disability worldwide.

The Real Impact of Mental Health Disorders Worldwide

In a wide-ranging retrospective meta-analysis published in May 2026 called “Updated Trends in the Global Prevalence and Burden of Mental Disorders, 1990–2023: A Systematic Analysis for The Global Burden of Disease Study 2023,” a group of researchers identified this goal:

“We [will] estimate the prevalence, incidence, and health burden for 375 diseases and injuries, including 12 mental disorders. We assess past, current, and emerging trends in the prevalence and burden of mental disorders across sexes and age groups, for 21 regions, 204 countries and territories.”

The researchers analyzed worldwide data on the following twelve (12) mental health and related disorders:

  1. Anxiety disorders (GAD, SAD, PD, phobias)
  2. Major depressive disorder (MDD)
  3. Dysthymia
  4. Bipolar disorder (BD I & II)
  5. Schizophrenia (SCZ)
  6. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
  7. Conduct disorder (CD)
  8. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  9. Anorexia nervosa (AN)
  10. Bulimia nervosa (BN)
  11. Idiopathic developmental intellectual disability (IDID)
  12. Other mental disorders

The research team estimated prevalence of mental health disorder by disorder, sex, age, location, and year. Next, they calculated the burden (impact on life, early death) of mental disorders and reported it with the following metrics, which we mention briefly in the introduction, above:

  • Estimated years lived with disability (YLDs)
  • Years of life lost (YLL)
  • Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)
    • DALYs are the sum of YLDs and YLLs
One DALY represents one healthy year of life lost to an identifiable cause. In this study, researchers identified mental health disorder as a cause.

Researchers reported prevalence of mental health disorders and DALYs as figures, rates per 100,000, and rates per 100,000 standardized by age. In this article, for each disorder, we’ll report the prevalence and DALYs for 1990 and 2023, then report the percentage increase in prevalence for the age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people.

Mental Health Disorders as Cause of Disability: Results

First, we’ll share the big-picture results of the study, which included information collected from 57 studies on incidence of mental disorders, 2000+ sources on prevalence of mental disorders, and 225 additional sources for general epidemiological data.

Worldwide Prevalence of Mental Disorders, 1990-2023, Top Line Results

  • Total: 1.17 billion cases of mental disorders globally in 2023
  • DALYs total: 171 million in 2023
  • Age-standardized prevalence rate: 14,210 per 100,000 people
  • Increase in prevalence of mental health disorders worldwide 1990-2023: 24.2%
  • Increase in proportion of DALYs associated with mental health 1990-2023: 100%
    • 1990: 3%
    • 2023: 6.1%

Now let’s review the detailed data on prevalence, DALYs, and age-adjusted prevalence rate for the dozen categories of mental health disorder analyzed in the study.

Increases In Prevalence of Mental Disorders, 1990-2023

All mental disorders:

  • 1990: 599 million
    • DALY: 83.6 million
  • 2023: 1.17 billion
    • DALY: 171 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 24.2%

Schizophrenia:

  • 1990: 15 million
    • DALY: 9.53 million
  • 2023: 26.9 million
    • DALY: 17.0 million
  • Age-adjusted rate per 100,000 percent change: 1.4%

Major depressive disorder (MDD):

  • 1990: 102 million
    • DALY: 20.7 million
  • 2023: 236 million
    • DALY: 47.5 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 41.3%

Dysthymia:

  • 1990: 48.1 million
    • DALY: 4.62 million
  • 2023: 89.3 million
    • DALY: 8.52 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 2.8%

Bipolar disorder (BD I&II):

  • 1990: 21.2 million
    • DALY: 4.55 million
  • 2023: 35.7
    • DALY: 7.63 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 0.2%

Anxiety disorders:

  • 1990: 182 million
    • DALY: 21.6 million
  • 2023: 470 million
    • DALY: 55.4 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 64.9%

Anorexia nervosa:

  • 1990: 2.49 million
    • DALY: 0.538 million
  • 2023: 3.92
    • DALY: 0.837 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 17%

Bulimia nervosa:

  • 1990: 8.1 million
    • DALY: 1.71 million
  • 2023: 14.2 million
    • DALY: 2.98 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 21.7%

Autism spectrum disorders (ADHD):

  • 1990: 30.3 million
    • DALY: 5.68 million
  • 2023: 52.3 million
    • DALY: 9.83 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 21.4%

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):

  • 1990: 65.8 million
    • DALY: 2.85 million
  • 2023: 86.3 million
    • DALY: 3.73 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: -1.4% (decrease)

Conduct disorders:

  • 1990: 30.8 million
    • DALY: 3.75 million
  • 2023: 39.5 million
    • DALY: 4.81 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: 2.7%

Idiopathic developmental intellectual disability (IDID):

  • 1990: 56.9 million
    • DALY: 2.88 million
  • 2023: 68.8 million
    • DALY: 3.64 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: -16.4% (decrease)

Other mental disorders:

  • 1990: 70.1 million
    • DALY: 5.20 million
  • 2023: 128 million
    • DALY: 9.45 million
  • Age-adjusted rate percent change: – 0.2% (decrease)

When we wonder whether mental health disorders can cause disability, we find the answer is a clear and resounding yes. The DALYs we report above are days of healthy life lost to a disability.

In 2023, people lost 171 million healthy days to disability caused by any mental health disorder, 55 million healthy days to anxiety, and 47.5 million healthy days to depression.

We’ll discuss these results further, below.

Increase in Prevalence and Disability Requires Increase in Awareness, Prevention, and Treatment

Here’s how the researchers summarize these results:

“All mental disorders showed increases in prevalent cases between 1990 and 2023, while notable increases were seen in age-standardized prevalence rates for anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, dysthymia, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, schizophrenia, and conduct disorder.”

Important outcomes embedded in the data above include:

  • Mental disorders contributed to 6.1% of DALYs in 2023
  • Mental disorders were the leading cause of YLDs in 2023:
    • 17.3% of YLDs in 2023 attributed to mental health disorders

Leading causes of DALYs associated with mental health disorders included:

  • Anxiety disorders (11th)
  • Major depressive disorder (15th)
  • Schizophrenia (41st)

In 2023, age-standardized DALYs were:

  • Higher among females than among males
  • Highest among 15-19 year olds
  • Elevated for ages 20-39
  • Declined after age 40

Smallest and greatest increase in DALYs, by country, from 1990-2023:

  • Smallest increase in Vietnam
  • Largest increase in the Netherlands

Additional findings:

  • Anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, dysthymia, bipolar disorders, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa were more common among females
  • Autism spectrum disorders, conduct disorder, ADHD, IDID, and the residual group of other mental disorders were more common among males.

Analysis showed the following factors that increased risk of incidence of mental health disorders including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, conduct disorder, and bulimia nervosa:

  • Exposure to sexual violence against children
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Bullying victimization

The study authors offer this insight on the role of risk factors for mental health disorders:

“Mental disorders are likely to be driven by a complex interplay between these risk factors and others related to genetic and biological factors, poverty, rising inequality, and population shocks such as war and conflict, pandemics, natural disasters, or other effects of climate change.”

Awareness of these causes and their outcomes are a primary public health concern, not only worldwide, but also here in the U.S. As mental health professionals, we can use this new data to affirm our efforts in helping reduce the burden of disability caused by mental health disorders. This data also confirms that when we see talk in the media of a mental health crisis, or a mental health epidemic, or a general reference to increasing rates of mental health disorders worldwide, those aren’t exaggerations, but rather, conclusions supported by thee and a half decades of reliable, peer-reviewed data.

Yes, mental health disorders can cause disability. Also yes:

Evidence-based treatment delivered by trained and experienced mental health professionals can reduce the impact of disability, and help people with mental health disorders lead full and productive lives, driven by choice, not constrained by disability caused by a mental health disorder.

Finding Help: Resources

If you or someone you know needs professional treatment and support for disability associated with a mental health disorder, please contact us here at Crownview Co-Occurring Institute. In addition, you can find support through the following online resources:

Finding Help for Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Disorders: Resources

If you or someone you know needs professional treatment and support for a co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health disorder, please contact us here at Crownview Co-Occurring Institute. In addition, you can find support through the following online resources: