When we fall ill, we need to do something about it. People who contract a fever rest, and when we have an infection, we take medication. When we suffer from more serious illnesses, we get medical attention. So why is it, then, that when people suffer from New Mexico behavioral health challenges, so many people simply choose to carry on and not get the help that they need?

This is an ongoing and potentially growing problem. Far too many people in the state are encountering New Mexico behavioral health needs. In addition, far too many of these people are not getting treatment. SoCal Empowered has worked with people from all over the United States who needed treatment, including people from the Land of Enchantment. We have facilities in Orange County, California and in Idaho Falls, Idaho. If you or a loved one is struggling, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to discuss your options. You may be surprised at how many of them are available.

Below we’re going to delve into some data relating to New Mexico behavioral health concerns. We’re quite certain that you’ll find the information we provide troubling, but the hope is that some people who are struggling decide that now is the time to get the treatment they need. If this includes you, we want you to know that making that first contact is a critically important and courageous first step.

New Mexico Behavioral Health Statistics

As mentioned above, the state of New Mexico behavioral health is not good. The New Mexico Department of Health has been putting together a wide range of data that focuses on this public health problem. You’ll find just a few examples of this data below. If you’d like to review the entire report, you can find it here.

1. Frequent Mental Distress

Frequent mental distress exists when someone describes his or her overall mental state as “not good” on at least 14 of the previous 30 days. According to this report, 13.1 percent of New Mexico adults fell into this category at the time the New Mexico Department of Health published this report.

2. Serious Mental Illness

The report defines serious mental illness as a “mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.” In 2012-13, 3.8 percent of New Mexico adults had some type of serious mental illness. By 2019-20, that number had almost doubled to 6.8 percent of adults in New Mexico.

Furthering this metric, the state reported that in 2020, 247.6 males per 10,000 in the state had been hospitalized with at least one mental illness. That number was at 297.8 per 10,000 females across the state. The most common problems associated with hospitalizations were:

1. Depressive disorders
2. Anxiety disorders
3. Trauma and other stress-related disorders
4. Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
5. Bipolar disorders

These are just a few examples of what is obviously a very troubling situation relating to New Mexico behavioral health.

Another Behavioral Health Statistical Breakdown

Mental Health America is a nationwide organization that works relentlessly to bring mental health awareness to the public. It does so in a variety of ways, including the publishing of its own set of data by state. Once again, the New Mexico behavioral health information is far from positive for a number of reasons.

Consider:

1. In February 2021, 43.3% of adults in New Mexico reported symptoms of anxiety or depression.
2. 71,000 adults in New Mexico have a serious mental illness.
3. 67,000 adults in New Mexico experienced suicidal ideation in the year prior to this report being published.
4. 536 people committed suicide during this same timeframe.
5. 1,366,095 people in New Mexico live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals to serve existing needs.

If you’d like to review this report, click here.

Just for the sake of numerical perspective, below you’ll find the biggest cities in New Mexico based on population, published by Cubit:

1. Albuquerque – 560,274
2. Las Cruces – 114,892
3. Rio Rancho – 110,660
4. Santa Fe – 89,167
5. Roswell – 47,109
6. Farmington – 46,237
7. Hobbs – 39,386
8. Clovis – 37,612
9. South Valley – 37,601
10. Carlsbad – 31,499

That perspective leads to the following conclusions:

1. If all of the adults in New Mexico with serious mental illness lived in one community, it would form the fifth largest city in the state.
2. The sixth largest city, if we’re following this exercise, would be the number of people who experienced suicidal ideation during the previous year.
3. The number of people living in communities underserved by the number of mental health professionals is larger than the population of the top 10 cities in the state combined.

How SoCal Empowered Can Help

It’s safe to say that currently, thousands of people in New Mexico need help with mental illness. It’s also safe to say that thousands more are not getting the treatment that they need. When this occurs, not only do those who are ill suffer, but so do their loved ones. Mental illnesses will not simply get better with the passage of time. People need to learn about what’s happening with them and then learn how to manage these illnesses.

SoCal Empowered can provide that treatment. We are a reasonable distance from New Mexico, and we are in-network with several national and regional insurance carriers. We also work with several others on an out-of-network basis.

If you contact us, we will deal with your insurance carrier directly to determine coverage before you commit to a stay with us, which usually lasts between 30 and 45 days. We will work with you to make sure that yours is a situation that’s a good fit for the treatment we provide. We will even help you find the right resource if staying with us is not the best step for you or your loved one to take.

It all starts with that first conversation. We invite you to contact us today to move towards improving your mental health and your life.