- Heart Rate Variability in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders represent one of the leading causes of disability in the United States and Canada. One in four American adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year (Kessler et al., 2005). According to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organization, the World Bank and Harvard University, mental illness constitutes over 15% of the disease burden in developed market economies (World Health Organization, 2008). Health-care expenditures for mental disorders have risen dramatically in the United States: between 1996 and 2006, the cost of treating neuropsychiatric disorders increased from $35.2 to $57.5 billion, while the number of treated individuals rose from 19.3 to 36.2 million (Soni, 2009).