LANSING – Amid a national shortage of psychiatrists, Michigan is among the states that lack enough mental health professionals and facilities, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“There is a shortage of service providers, psychiatrists and physicians that are able to work with people that have mental illness and prescribe medications,” said Kathleen Gross, executive director of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. “There is shortage of funding in the state for community mental health centers to provide a great deal of service to the citizens.”

The U.P. and Northeast Michigan face the most serious shortages, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Among 15 U.P. counties, 13 are designated as shortage areas. Ten of the 11 Northeast Michigan counties have the same designation.

An assessment conducted in 2012 by the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department, found that an estimated 24.2 percent of Western U.P. adults have at some point in their lives been told they had a depression disorder. The local estimated lifetime depression diagnosis rates were higher among adults younger than 65.

According to NorthCare Network in Marquette, five mental health centers are available in the U.P., with each center serving two to four counties.

“We have two psychiatrists on staff and we also contract with a company for tele-psychiatry,” said Dawn Stromer, the human resources director of the Copper Country Community Mental Health Center in Houghton. Stromer added that the center can’t attract the psychiatrists to this place because it’s rural area.

Gross of the Psychiatric Society also cited a parity problem in the state.

“If you have diabetes, you are not limited to visits with doctors. But with mental illness there is a limit. In Michigan, there is a limitation of how many times you can go and visit a doctor and get treatment for mental illness. But the federal Affordable Care Act said that mental illness needs to be treated as other illnesses,” she said.