Seems almost everyone these days is feeling stressed out, anxious and just plain worried. So why, at a time when addressing people's mental health needs is increasingly critical, are an overwhelming majority of primary care doctors having difficulty finding mental health services for their patients?

A new Commonwealth Fund-sponsored study conducted by the Center for the Study of Health System Change finds the number of primary care physicians who report difficulty obtaining mental health services for their patients has risen dramatically in recent years. More than two-thirds of the doctors were unable to obtain outpatient mental health services for their patients, more than twice the number that reported difficulty accessing other specialists.

Nationwide, community mental health centers are experiencing a 20 percent increase in demand for services, according to a recent survey by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. At the same time demand is increasing, at least 32 states are known to be enacting mental health funding cuts.

Access to mental health treatment in many parts of the country is severely limited. An increasing number of centers are forced to downsize while others are closing their doors due to lack of funding.

Mental health advocates in some states are actively protesting against the budget cuts. Hearing about plans to close four city-run community mental health centers, protestors in Chicago mounted an intense lobbying campaign that culminated in a sit-in at the mayor's office. The months-long protests resulted in a temporary reversal of plans and city officials pledging to keep the centers open with a portion of federal stimulus money. Other parts of the country have not been as fortunate. Levels of stress and anxiety are running particularly high at community mental health centers in states like New York and New Jersey, where many new patients have lost jobs, homes and insurance.

The current state of community mental health centers - the frontline mental health safety net - is, well, depressed. Further limiting access will only exacerbate a festering problem.

Abandoning people with unmet mental health needs puts additional strain on local economies and state welfare systems. Cutting services results in patients getting placed in costly state mental hospitals and nursing homes. Without treatment, others will end up on the street or in jail.

Before legislators vote to take away money for services for the mentally ill, they should listen to people like "Robert," a homeless man who lived on the streets of Denver for 10 years.

"I left home at 14 and didn't attend school because of the bruises I had from my father's beatings," he says. "I started drinking to take away the pain, and eventually my life revolved around alcohol."

The Mental Health Center of Denver took him off the streets and provided treatment for his mental illness and alcohol abuse disorder. Today Robert lives independently and is working to complete his GED.

As we continue to bail out some of the richest and most powerful corporations, banks and investment brokers, let us not abandon our most vulnerable citizens.

LINDA ROSENBERG is president and CEO of National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare.