TOKYO - The number of Japanese suffering from mental illnesses topped 3 million for the first time in 2005, the government said Friday, amid efforts to improve mental health services in Japan.
Approximately 3.028 million Japanese were diagnosed with mental illness, according to a report on people with disabilities issued annually by the Cabinet Office. Mental illness data, tabulated only periodically, was last featured in 2002.
2005 was the first year the number exceeded 3 million, Cabinet Office official Toshiaki Nagato said. Japan's population in 2005 was 127 million.
The report does not explain why the numbers have increased, said Nagato, who helped compile the report.
But he said it likely reflected an increase in the number of mental health care facilities and other treatment options that allow more sufferers to come forward and be counted.
The government has recently started to ease restrictions on compensation allowing more people suffering from depression or stress-related illnesses to qualify for help.
The government has earmarked substantial funds for programs to help those with depression and other mental illnesses and is more actively involved in trying to get those affected to seek help through awareness programs.
Earlier this year, officials said more Japanese claimed and received compensation for work-related suicides and mental-health problems in 2006 than ever before.
Conditions regarded as mental illnesses in the report included addictions, Alzheimer's disease, depression, epilepsy and stress-related disabilities.
