Semblance of a Whole

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

I recently discovered another fun way to waste time on the Internet:
Browsing StateMaster, a web site which uses U.S. Census Bureau, FBI, and other statistics to compare the states. You can find out, for instance, which state has the most restaurants per capita and where people eat the most fruits and vegetables. I thought the chart showing the prevalence of poor mental health was particularly interesting. I suspect is says more about which states have good mental health care available, along that doesn't stigmatize mental health problems (i.e. which states' people are likely to seek care for mental health issues), than it does about the actual numbers of people with mental health problems.