ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1571183
Addressing Mental Health Deserts: A Geographic and Economic Analysis of Mental Health Service Gaps in Houston, Texas
Provisionally accepted
Damien Kelly1
Chakema Carmack1,2*- 1HEALTH Center for Cancer Prevention and Addiction Research-RCMI, Houston, Texas, United States
- 2Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, College of Education, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States
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Word count: 284 The increasing prevalence of mental health challenges in the United States, particularly among low-income communities, has highlighted significant disparities in access to mental health services. This study investigated the concept of "mental health deserts," areas with insufficient mental health care providers, in the city of Houston, Texas. By utilizing the Distressed Community Index (DCI) to identify economically disadvantaged areas and sampling Psychology Today's database of over 3000 licensed therapists in the Houston area to map mental health service availability, this research aimed to determine the existence and extent of mental health deserts in Houston. The study employed a food desert model as a conceptual framework, comparing the availability of mental health services in economically deprived areas. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to assess the relationship between DCI scores and the number of mental health professionals, types of mental health service professionals, and the education level of providers among N=96 zip codes and 395 therapists in the city of Houston. Results showed that certain low-income areas in Houston, particularly those with higher DCI scores (i.e., more distressed), lack adequate mental health resources, possibly qualifying them as mental health deserts. These areas demonstrate a significant need for targeted interventions at multiple levels to improve access to mental health care. Implications to inform policymakers and healthcare providers about the critical need for mental health infrastructure in economically distressed communities are discussed. By identifying and addressing these gaps, this research aims to contribute to the broader effort of reducing mental health disparities and promoting wellness among underserved populations. The present study is a preliminary examination and is meant to initiate more research on mental health deserts in areas with significant need for awareness, intervention, and policy attention.
Keywords: Mental Health Deserts, Distressed Community Index (DCI), Access to mental health services, mental health policy, Economic Disparities in Health Care
Received: 05 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kelly and Carmack. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chakema Carmack, HEALTH Center for Cancer Prevention and Addiction Research-RCMI, Houston, Texas, United States
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