Chapel Hill, North Carolina Therapists

An Overview of Mental Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Founded in 1793, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is in both Durham and Orange counties. Chapel Hill is home to a large collection of food, music, sports and media outlets and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. College sports are a huge part of the town’s economy and environment, with the Tobacco Road rivalry between the school and the four ACC teams in North Carolina: the Tar Heels, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest.

Some people even call the city magic and it was listed on The Guardian’s best towns and small cities in the United States. As a small college town, it has the charm that comes from small town life combined with Southern culture, a liberal philosophy and access to both the mountains and the coast.

AS of 2014, the city was home to 59,376 people and the median age for residents was 26.6 years, quite a bit lower than the state’s at 38.7 years. This is likely because so many of Chapel Hill’s residents are drawn in by the university, decreasing the median age. The median household income is $71,003, quite a bit higher than the North Carolina average at $50,584. This means that while the residents are younger, professionals in the city are being paid better than those in the rest of the state.

The cost of living index puts Chapel Hill at 97.2 which is almost at average for the country. The United States cost of living index is 100. Chapel Hill is made up of approximately 68 percent whites, 13 percent Asians, nine percent blacks, six percent Hispanic and four percent of people are of more than one race.

Of the people over 25 in the city, 96 percent graduated high school, while almost 75 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree. The city’s unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, which is slightly higher than the country’s current low at 3.7 percent. Although the cost of living is lower, the higher unemployment rate may cancel out the benefits of paying less for rent and goods.

The divorce rate for those 15 years and older is 6.6 percent, while 53.2 percent of those people have never married. Just over 36 percent are currently married, and three percent are widowed. Chapel Hill is a fairly safe area to live with lower occurrences of violent and property crimes like burglaries, theft, robberies, rape, auto thefts and murders. While the average United States crime index is 282.1, the city’s is quite a bit lower at 173.4.

While Chapel Hill is described as an exciting place to live, the people deal with the same mental health problems that plague the rest of the country. Mental illness does not discriminate and is often prevalent in college towns where people are under a lot of stress and pressure to get good grades, be successful and meet the expectations of their peers.

Mental Health Resources in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Mental illnesses are any disorder that affect the mind including behavior, thinking and mood. These disorders can include schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, addictive behaviors and eating disorders. While most people will deal with a mental health problem once or twice throughout their life, there are also those who have a genetic predisposition and may have a mental illness that does not go away.

Depending on the type of illness, different treatments options are available. In Chapel Hill, the UNC Medical Center provides adult, child and adolescent psychiatry treatment and the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry offers adult inpatient services and a long list of other treatments. Most mental illnesses can be treated with a combination of medication and therapy, but it’s important for the individual to stay on top of their treatment plan with someone they trust.