Study reveals extent of mental health professional shortage in rural America, offers county-level data

A new study details the extent of the shortage of mental health professionals in rural areas. Though 6.5 million rural Americans have some form of mental illness, 65 percent of rural counties don't have a psychiatrist, 47 percent don't have a psychologist, and 81 percent don't have a psychiatric nurse practitioner, Stephen Johnson reports for Big Think.

Check out the graphs from the study and see how your county stacks up:

Number of psychiatrists per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Number of psychologists per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Number of psychiatric nurse practitioners per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.