Report: Depression state's top mental health issue

A study by Minnesota's seven largest health insurers finds about one out of every ten state residents with health insurance is diagnosed at some time in their life with a mental illness.

Medica senior vice president for government programs Glenn Andis said the one in ten survey finding was in line with national results. Andis said one mental illness accounts for most of the diagnosis.

"Depression is the number one diagnosis overall when you put all the categories of depression together and that includes both for children, adolescents and adults, but then certainly a huge category for children and adolescents is attention deficit disorder," Andis explained.

Seven of the state's largest medical insurers participated in the survey. They cover about 2.5 million Minnesota residents.

Andis said the survey results also suggest that children and older people may be over-medicated in some cases for their mental illnesses and that adults are likely under-diagnosed for their disorders.