Each year, serious mental illness costs Americans $193 billion in lost earnings, finds a study in the May American Journal of Psychiatry (Vol. 165, No. 5). People who are seriously impaired by such mental illnesses as depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder make about $16,603 less than those without such conditions.

Average earnings of healthy respondents versus
those with serious mental illness in 2003

Healthy respondents: $38,851
Respondents with serious mental illness: $22,545

Healthy men: $54,505
Men with serious mental illness: $28,070

Healthy women: $28,026
Women with serious mental illness: $18,700