Most mental illness hits early in life, with half of all cases starting by age 14, a survey of nearly 10,000 U.S. adults found. 

    Many cases begin with mild, easy-to-dismiss symptoms such as low-level anxiousness or persistent shyness, but left untreated, they can quickly escalate into severe depression, disabling phobias or clinical anxiety, said Ronald Kessler, a Harvard Medical School researcher involved in the study. 

    That so many cases begin in people so young — three-fourths start by age 24 — "is just staggering" and underscores the need for better efforts at early detection and treatment, Kessler said. 

    "These disorders have really become the chronic disorders of young people in America," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the research. 

    The findings, published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, were based on face-to-face interviews conducted with people ages 18 and older in 2001 through 2003. 

    The new figures also show that the prevalence of mental illness nationwide has stabilized for the first time since the end of World War II, Kessler said. 

    About 46 percent of people surveyed said they had experienced a mental illness at some point in their lives, and about 26 percent said they had within the previous year — rates similar to those reported in a 1994 version of the survey. Before the earlier survey, rates had steadily increased since the mid-1940s, Kessler said.

    The previous increase was probably at least partly due to better detection and awareness, Kessler said.

    The overall prevalence rate is probably an underestimate because the study included only English-speaking adults and excluded rarer illnesses such as schizophrenia and autism.

    Most ailments were mild. Only about one-fifth of those who reported any mental disorder within the past year had a serious illness, meaning their daily activities were severely affected. 

    最近公布的一項對于1萬名美國成年人的調查結果顯示，相當一部分精神病患者在年齡很小的時候便已出現相關癥狀，其中一半病例的發病時間開始于14歲左右。 

    據美聯社6月7日報道，研究人員在2001年到2003年間對年齡不小于18歲的采樣人群進行了面對面的訪談，并將調查結論刊登在6月號的《普通精神病學文獻集》上。 

    調查顯示，很多患者的最初癥狀輕微且易于擺脫，諸如輕微的焦慮或持續性的害羞等，但如果不及時診治，它們會迅速發展成為嚴重的抑郁情緒、導致喪失行為能力的恐懼、臨床焦慮等。 

    參與此項調查的哈佛大學醫院研究員凱斯勒表示，這么多人在如此年輕的時候便開始發病——四分之三的患者在24歲之前便已表現出某些癥狀——“這的確令人感到十分驚訝”，同時也凸現出加強早期診斷和治療的必要性。 

    美國國家精神健康研究院院長托馬斯·因賽爾博士說："美國年輕人經歷的最初的心理失調已經真正演變成為慢性精神紊亂。" 

    約有46%的被調查者表示，他們都曾經在過去生活的某個階段遭遇過精神疾病的襲擊，而大約26%的人則聲稱自己在最近一年中剛剛體驗過這種痛苦--該比例與1994年的調查結果相近。凱斯勒透露，在更早以前，同類比例從上世紀40年代中期開始，一直呈穩定的上升態勢。 

    凱斯勒認為，這些新的數字還表明，精神病在全美范圍內的流行程度在二戰后首次趨于穩定。以前報告的上升趨勢或許應部分歸功于診治技術的不斷進步。 

    這次研究所得出的精神病總流行比例或許比實際情況要低一些，因為其調查對象只包括了講英語的成年人，而且還排除了那些患有較為罕見的精神病--比如精神分裂癥和自閉癥患者。

    大部分精神病患者的日常表現是非常平和的。在那些被認為處于某種精神紊亂狀態的人中，只有大約五分之一的人在過去一年中有過劇烈的精神病發作，也就是說他們的日常生活因精神原因受到了嚴重影響。