Quote this with its limit
“In six published care cascades for depression, anxiety and substance use, 64% to 82% of people without minimally adequate care had not sought help (51% to 82% if, in the two cascades from a pooled model of 149 studies, contact with any service, not only health services, counts). These are 12-month snapshots recalculated from published data; they do not show why people did not seek help or whether care was available to them.”
NOOS Institute (2026). Theme of the Year 2026: Most of the treatment gap for depression, anxiety and substance use opens before people seek help. https://noosinstitute.org/research/treatment-gap-before-first-contact
What this theme does not claim
This is a recalculation of published 12-month snapshots, not a new study and not one person’s path over time. It does not show why people did not seek help, whether care was available to them, or whether those who got care got better. Three of the six cascades come from the same World Mental Health surveys.