A report says that psychiatric disorders are becoming quite common among the US adults, but most of the adults do not seek any treatment.

In their study, the US researchers studied the data from those 5,000 respondents that participated in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and aged 19-25 years. Among them 2188 were college students while the rest of them were not in college.

The researchers found that 45.8 % college students and 47.7% of other adults met the criteria for having a psychiatric disorder, but those who were found with these disorders only 25% among them looked for treatment for a period of one-year.

Among college students alcohol abuse was found as the commonest disorders with 20.4 % while personality disorders were found 17.7%. Among adults who were not in college, nicotine dependency was found in 20.7% and personality disorders in 21.6%.

The occurrences of bipolar disorders, nicotine dependence and drug-use disorders were found less in college students and similarly they were less likely to use tobacco than the adults who were not in college.

The researchers found that there was an overall decline to seek medical treatment, but college students were even less likely to receive treatment for drug-use or alcohol disorders.

The study has been published in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.