There is a disturbing trend among those seeking help for mental health issues. The recession and dour economic outlook have caused a spike in mental health emergencies, which is unfortunately coupled with service providers that have seen their budgets slashed.

As a result, more hospital emergency rooms are seeing mental health and psychiatric emergencies. Such centers are already overloaded with patients, making the wait for treatment even longer.

According to MSNBC, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors estimates that states have cut budgets for mental health services by some $3.4 billion in the last three years. At the same time, those seeking help at such facilities have increased by approximately 400,000.

A doctor in one Chicago emergency room says he recently treated a homeless person who kept threatening to kill himself. Sadly, his case was not uncommon.

Health care professionals say it's becoming more common to see people who are feeling crushed by the bad economy. They're losing their jobs, feeling they're letting their families down and are becoming very depressed.

Another problem is that uninsured patients often wait to seek treatment until a mental health problem becomes a downright emergency. One expert says that the problem has become "horrible" and that next year might be even worse. Sadly, the unemployed and uninsured often need treatment the most, and the emergency room is not always an ideal setting for someone with a psychiatric emergency.

MSNBC reports that more than 70 percent of administrators in emergency departments say that they have kept some patients waiting in an emergency room for 24 hours. That's a long time to wait.

Source: MSNBC, "Mentally ill flood ERs as states cut services," Julie Steenhuysen and Jilian Mincer, Dec. 26, 2011