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Watchdog group calls for accountability as mental health spending and treatment surge, including increased antidepressant use in youth, while outcomes continue to decline.
LOS ANGELES - eTravelWire -- By CCHR International
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services recently held a roundtable examining the state of mental health in America, revealing a troubling paradox: more Americans are receiving treatment than ever before, yet outcomes are significantly worsening. Spending on treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues skyrocketed more than 241% from $40.9 billion in 2000 to $139.6 billion in 2021, according to a new Health Affairs study. Subcommittee Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) noted that this massive increase is harming the economy while funding programs that fail to deliver results. Between 2002 and 2024, the number of adults receiving mental health treatment surged approximately 122% from about 27 million to nearly 60 million—far outpacing the U.S. population growth of only 18%. Depression rates have reached historic highs, and suicide rates have climbed back to levels not seen in decades.[1] The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, applauded the subcommittee's initiative. It emphasized that the true costs extend far beyond the figures given.
In 2020, U.S. spending on mental and behavioral health treatment topped $280 billion.[2] In fiscal year 2022, $36.5 billion in federal and state funding was allocated to community mental health systems. Medicaid was the largest single funding source for community mental health at almost $24.7 billion.[3] CCHR says such services generally rely upon the biomedical model, including psychotropic drugs, which many consider a failure.
The roundtable spotlighted antidepressant prescriptions for individuals aged 12 to 25, which rose more than 63% between 2016 and 2022, with over 221 million prescriptions dispensed to 18 million young people during that period. Yet outcomes continue to decline: in 2021, 57% of teen girls reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness—up from 36% a decade earlier.[4]
Chairman Grothman commented, "We are intervening more, medicating more, and spending more. Yet, many of the people we are trying to help are not getting better."
CCHR's prescription data from IQVia's Total Patient Tracker shows that in 2020, over 76 million Americans, including 6.1 million children—hundreds of thousands under the age of five—were prescribed psychotropic drugs.
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Between 1999 and 2019, these drugs contributed to 51,446 deaths and nearly 650,000 overdoses, with the annual death rate more than tripling.[5]
Additionally, approximately 1.2 million people are involuntarily hospitalized each year for psychiatric treatment. The coercion can prove lethal: A July 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that individuals involuntarily hospitalized were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide or overdose within three months of release.[6]
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, stated: "Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars—including over $75 billion from Medicaid in a single year—are poured into psychiatric treatment, yet we see only worsening results."
Dr. David Hyman, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and Professor of Health Law & Policy at Georgetown Law, addressed the roundtable about systemic fraud, pointing out that spending on mental health and substance use disorders has grown faster than overall healthcare expenditure, now accounting for roughly 5% of total US healthcare spending. "When we pay for services, we get services; we don't necessarily get better mental health," Hyman said. He described mental health as a "fraud-laced industry" where billing for services not performed and falsified records remain prevalent.[7]
Dr. Hyman referred to the 2014 Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, Richard Kusserow, who said mental health has a special enforcement problem that stretched back decades. Kusserow stated that psychiatrists and psychologists "have the worst fraud record of all medical disciplines."[8] If you look at the providers that have been excluded from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Dr. Hyman continued, "psychiatrists punch well above their weight in terms of their likelihood of being excluded from the program" for engaging in a "variety of these frauds."
CCHR has long tracked mental health fraud, which has ranked among the top crimes committed in the mental health industry. A 2020 Journal of Medical Economics study described a typical fraudster as a 53-year-old male psychiatrist who overbills federal insurance programs for unperformed services or inflated session times. Thousands of patients, including children, are hospitalized unnecessarily and held until insurance benefits expire to fill beds.[9]
Eastgate concluded: "Unless the mental health industry's results are rigorously measured and held accountable, the abusive and fraudulent practices driving today's declining conditions will persist. Real reform must begin by ending coercive psychiatric practices that force taxpayers to fund unwanted treatments with no guaranteed benefit. It must direct funding exclusively toward proven, workable solutions that deliver genuine cures—not endless intervention. Above all, there must be full accountability for every dollar spent."
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CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, and is responsible for hundreds of laws globally that protect patient rights and ban harmful treatments.
Sources:
[1] Glenn Grothman, "Grothman Opens Roundtable on Examining Mental Health in the MAHA Age," U.S. Committee on Oversight, Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairman, 26 Mar. 2026, https://oversight.house.gov/release/grothman-opens-roundtable-on-examining-mental-health-in-the-maha-age/, citing Tami L. Mark, et al., "US National Spending On Mental Health And Substance Use Disorder Treatment Driven By Case Growth, 2000–21," Health Affairs, 18 Mar. 2026, https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01351
[2] New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, "U.S. Spending on Behavioral Health Topped $280 Billion in 2020," 8 Aug. 2024, https://www.njamhaa.org/2024-08-08-us-spending-on-behavioral-health-topped-280-billion-in-2020
[3] "Organization & Funding of Community Mental Health," 2023-2024, NRI, Nov. 2024
[4] Glenn Grothman, 26 Mar. 2026
[5] Mike Vuolo, "Trends in Psychotropic-Drug-Implicated Mortality: Psychotropic Drugs as a Contributing But Non-Underlying Cause of Death," Drug Alcohol Depend, 24, June 2021, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8355085/
[6] Natalia Emanuel, et al. "A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization," Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1158, July 2025, https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1158.pdf?sc_lang=en
[7] "Hidden crisis in US mental health: Why depression and suicide rates are increasing," Mathrubhumi.com, 30 Mar. 2026, https://english.mathrubhumi.com/lifestyle/health/us-mental-health-crisis-treatment-outcomes-e3leacfz
[8] Richard Kusserow, "Mental Health Ranks High on Fraud Scale," Walters Kluwer, 23 Sept. 2014
[9] Yuriv Timofeyev, Mihajilo Jakovljevic, "Fraudster's and victims' profiles and loss predictors' hierarchy in the mental healthcare industry in the US," Journal of Medical Economics, Vol 23, Issue 10, 12 Aug. 2020, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13696998.2020.1801454
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services recently held a roundtable examining the state of mental health in America, revealing a troubling paradox: more Americans are receiving treatment than ever before, yet outcomes are significantly worsening. Spending on treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues skyrocketed more than 241% from $40.9 billion in 2000 to $139.6 billion in 2021, according to a new Health Affairs study. Subcommittee Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) noted that this massive increase is harming the economy while funding programs that fail to deliver results. Between 2002 and 2024, the number of adults receiving mental health treatment surged approximately 122% from about 27 million to nearly 60 million—far outpacing the U.S. population growth of only 18%. Depression rates have reached historic highs, and suicide rates have climbed back to levels not seen in decades.[1] The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, applauded the subcommittee's initiative. It emphasized that the true costs extend far beyond the figures given.
In 2020, U.S. spending on mental and behavioral health treatment topped $280 billion.[2] In fiscal year 2022, $36.5 billion in federal and state funding was allocated to community mental health systems. Medicaid was the largest single funding source for community mental health at almost $24.7 billion.[3] CCHR says such services generally rely upon the biomedical model, including psychotropic drugs, which many consider a failure.
The roundtable spotlighted antidepressant prescriptions for individuals aged 12 to 25, which rose more than 63% between 2016 and 2022, with over 221 million prescriptions dispensed to 18 million young people during that period. Yet outcomes continue to decline: in 2021, 57% of teen girls reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness—up from 36% a decade earlier.[4]
Chairman Grothman commented, "We are intervening more, medicating more, and spending more. Yet, many of the people we are trying to help are not getting better."
CCHR's prescription data from IQVia's Total Patient Tracker shows that in 2020, over 76 million Americans, including 6.1 million children—hundreds of thousands under the age of five—were prescribed psychotropic drugs.
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Between 1999 and 2019, these drugs contributed to 51,446 deaths and nearly 650,000 overdoses, with the annual death rate more than tripling.[5]
Additionally, approximately 1.2 million people are involuntarily hospitalized each year for psychiatric treatment. The coercion can prove lethal: A July 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that individuals involuntarily hospitalized were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide or overdose within three months of release.[6]
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, stated: "Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars—including over $75 billion from Medicaid in a single year—are poured into psychiatric treatment, yet we see only worsening results."
Dr. David Hyman, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and Professor of Health Law & Policy at Georgetown Law, addressed the roundtable about systemic fraud, pointing out that spending on mental health and substance use disorders has grown faster than overall healthcare expenditure, now accounting for roughly 5% of total US healthcare spending. "When we pay for services, we get services; we don't necessarily get better mental health," Hyman said. He described mental health as a "fraud-laced industry" where billing for services not performed and falsified records remain prevalent.[7]
Dr. Hyman referred to the 2014 Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, Richard Kusserow, who said mental health has a special enforcement problem that stretched back decades. Kusserow stated that psychiatrists and psychologists "have the worst fraud record of all medical disciplines."[8] If you look at the providers that have been excluded from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Dr. Hyman continued, "psychiatrists punch well above their weight in terms of their likelihood of being excluded from the program" for engaging in a "variety of these frauds."
CCHR has long tracked mental health fraud, which has ranked among the top crimes committed in the mental health industry. A 2020 Journal of Medical Economics study described a typical fraudster as a 53-year-old male psychiatrist who overbills federal insurance programs for unperformed services or inflated session times. Thousands of patients, including children, are hospitalized unnecessarily and held until insurance benefits expire to fill beds.[9]
Eastgate concluded: "Unless the mental health industry's results are rigorously measured and held accountable, the abusive and fraudulent practices driving today's declining conditions will persist. Real reform must begin by ending coercive psychiatric practices that force taxpayers to fund unwanted treatments with no guaranteed benefit. It must direct funding exclusively toward proven, workable solutions that deliver genuine cures—not endless intervention. Above all, there must be full accountability for every dollar spent."
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CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, and is responsible for hundreds of laws globally that protect patient rights and ban harmful treatments.
Sources:
[1] Glenn Grothman, "Grothman Opens Roundtable on Examining Mental Health in the MAHA Age," U.S. Committee on Oversight, Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairman, 26 Mar. 2026, https://oversight.house.gov/release/grothman-opens-roundtable-on-examining-mental-health-in-the-maha-age/, citing Tami L. Mark, et al., "US National Spending On Mental Health And Substance Use Disorder Treatment Driven By Case Growth, 2000–21," Health Affairs, 18 Mar. 2026, https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01351
[2] New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, "U.S. Spending on Behavioral Health Topped $280 Billion in 2020," 8 Aug. 2024, https://www.njamhaa.org/2024-08-08-us-spending-on-behavioral-health-topped-280-billion-in-2020
[3] "Organization & Funding of Community Mental Health," 2023-2024, NRI, Nov. 2024
[4] Glenn Grothman, 26 Mar. 2026
[5] Mike Vuolo, "Trends in Psychotropic-Drug-Implicated Mortality: Psychotropic Drugs as a Contributing But Non-Underlying Cause of Death," Drug Alcohol Depend, 24, June 2021, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8355085/
[6] Natalia Emanuel, et al. "A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization," Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1158, July 2025, https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1158.pdf?sc_lang=en
[7] "Hidden crisis in US mental health: Why depression and suicide rates are increasing," Mathrubhumi.com, 30 Mar. 2026, https://english.mathrubhumi.com/lifestyle/health/us-mental-health-crisis-treatment-outcomes-e3leacfz
[8] Richard Kusserow, "Mental Health Ranks High on Fraud Scale," Walters Kluwer, 23 Sept. 2014
[9] Yuriv Timofeyev, Mihajilo Jakovljevic, "Fraudster's and victims' profiles and loss predictors' hierarchy in the mental healthcare industry in the US," Journal of Medical Economics, Vol 23, Issue 10, 12 Aug. 2020, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13696998.2020.1801454
Source: Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
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