Mental health treatments fall short; illnesses begin early.

Byline: Judith Graham

Jun. 7--Only a third of Americans seeking help for a mental disorder receive treatment that meets professional standards, suggesting that many people in distress aren't getting the help they badly need, according to the first extensive national survey in a decade on mental illness in the United States.

Four studies published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry indicate emotional disturbances are strikingly common, with a quarter of all Americans suffering from at least one mental disorder in a given year. Mental illness also starts early: Half of all cases were found to have surfaced before age 14.

Overall, the picture that emerges from the reports is of a mental health system that often does too little too late to treat disorders, as well as supplying many therapies not demonstrated to be effective.

Among the problems are inadequately trained service providers, scarce data about what works and lack of accountability for outcomes, said the authors, from Harvard University and the University of Michigan.

"I don't think the nation would tolerate these kind of results for cancer or heart…