The U.S. faces a mental health crisis, say 90% respondents to a survey by Kaiser Family Foundation and CNN. People ages 18 through 29 are especially at risk.
According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and CNN survey, a mental health crisis has afflicted young adults in the United States to the point where more than a third (35%) of those aged 18 to 29 are unable to work or engage in other activities of daily living.
Meanwhile, 90% of all Americans believe the country is in the grip of a mental health crisis.
The age of 30 appears to be the dividing line between severe crisis caused by mental health problems and less severe conditions. For example, 34% of those aged 18 to 29 believe their mental health is "only fair" or "poor," while 19% of those aged 30 and up believe the same.
Fifty-two percent of young adults said they had always or frequently felt anxious in the previous year, while 28% of older adults did.
In the previous year, one-third of young adults (33%) or lonely (32%), while 18% of older adults were both depressed and lonely.
While COVID-19 was not the focus of the survey, its impact was felt, and the pandemic's negative impact on mental health has been widely and frequently reported. According to Ashley Kirzinger, Ph.D., KFF's director of survey methodology and one of the survey's coauthors, the pandemic casts a long shadow over the subject.
"The pandemic's impact on mental health was one of the reasons we wanted to do this deep dive on the subject," she told Fierce Healthcare. However, for many Americans, the pandemic is now mostly in the rearview mirror, and people are having to balance going back to work, getting their kids back in school, and dealing with many of the mental health issues that arose over the last two years, and those experiences and worries are definitely influencing how people responded to the survey."
COVID-19 continues to worry parents, with 47% reporting that the pandemic had a negative impact on their child's mental health. At least four out of every ten parents said this across all racial and ethnic groups. Almost one-fifth (17%) of parents said that the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact.
And, despite the fact that the federal government established a national three-digit suicide prevention hotline—988—56% of those polled said they'd heard nothing about it, while 21% said they'd heard a little bit about it. According to the press release, "only about one in four adults have heard either 'a lot' (7%) or'some' (16%) about the new 988 mental health hotline that will connect people with mental health services."
The survey was conducted from July 28 to August 9, 2022, among 2,004 adults aged 18 and up, with 398 parents participating. The interviews were conducted over the phone or online, and the survey has a sampling error of 3%.
According to the survey, families are suffering. Fifty-one percent of all adults in the United States report that their families have been through a severe mental health crisis. One in every four respondents (28%) reported that a family member received in-person treatment because they posed a risk to themselves or others. Twenty-six percent reported that a family member was cutting or engaging in other forms of self-harm.
According to the study, "significant shares also report that a family member had a drug overdose that necessitated an emergency room visit or hospitalisation (21%); experienced homelessness due to mental health problems (16%); died by suicide (16%); or ran away from home due to mental health problems (14%)." "Approximately one in ten (8%) say a family member had a severe eating disorder that necessitated hospitalisation or in-person treatment."
Economic uncertainty exacerbates mental health issues.
According to the survey, "six in ten (61%) of those living in households with incomes of $40,000 or less say their personal finances are a major source of stress." "This group also reports that the cost of mental health care services may be prohibitive to seeking care, with four out of ten (39%) saying people like them are unable to obtain the mental health services they require, and a large majority of those with lower incomes saying the cost of mental health care is a 'big problem' in the United States."
Experts weigh in on how to address mental health issues in seniors and mothers.
Some of those polled provided quotes for the study. Here are some examples of responses to the question: "What is the main reason you don't feel comfortable discussing your mental health with your family and friends?"
- "Because it isn't considered masculine." When I've expressed my concerns in the past, I've gotten funny looks and debilitating jokes." - A Hispanic man in his forties from Texas
- "I don't want to worry my friends and family about my personal problems." - White 37-year-old man from Texas
- "I'm worried that my wife will choose not to understand my feelings and will use what I tell her against me with others." - In California, a 59-year-old Hispanic man
Here are some of the responses to the question: "Why do you believe it would be harmful to call 911 if you or a loved one were experiencing a mental health crisis?"
- "Law enforcement officers are not properly trained to deal with mental health issues." - A 27-year-old African-American man from Georgia
- "Sometimes, emergency responders are not trained to handle these crisis situations, which can upset or worsen the problem/situation." - A white 64-year-old woman from South Carolina
- "Because most first responders have no idea how or what to do to treat mental health, and they only exacerbate the problem." - A 66-year-old African-American man from Michigan
- "They are not adequately trained to deal with mental health crises." My brother was schizophrenic, and we called the police, who killed him because they didn't realise he was having a mental health crisis." - 39-year-old Caucasian man from Colorado
- "Resistance and shame, plus if the person in need was the primary financial provider for the family and lost the ability to earn a living for the family due to the need for temporary hospitalisation, that would be devastating for the family." - In Connecticut, a 51-year-old White man
