By: Anita Everett, M.D., DFAPA, Director, SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services
Our population is aging. Approximately 75 million Americans will be over age 65 by 2030.  Additionally, a 2012 study from the Institute on Medicine found that approximately one in five older adults in the U.S. experience a mental illness, substance use disorder, or both.  That ratio, should it still exist in 2030, equates to approximately 15 million people.