CNN
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An overwhelming majority of people in the United States think the country is experiencing a mental health crisis, according to a new CNN poll in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Nine in 10 adults said they believe there is a mental health crisis in the US today. When asked to rate the severity of six specific mental health problems, Americans ranked the opioid epidemic among the top , with more than two-thirds of people identifying it as a crisis rather than simply a problem. More than half identified mental health problems among children and adolescents as a crisis, as well as serious mental illness in adults.
The survey captured the perceptions of a nationally representative sample of approximately 2,000 adults during the summer, two and a half years into the Covid-19 pandemic and amid ongoing public health threats, including racism and armed violence.
The general concern is well founded, rooted in both personal experience and national trends.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated numerous social stressors that we know can increase the risk of both substance use and mental illness,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drug overdose deaths hit record levels in 2021 and suicide rates hit record levels again after two years of decline. And in 2020, mental health-related visits to emergency rooms increased 31% among teens ages 12-17.
According to the CNN and KFF survey, about half of adults say they have had a serious mental health crisis in their family, including in-person treatment for family members who were a threat to themselves or others, or family members engaged in self-defense. harmful behaviors.
More than 1 in 5 adults describe their own mental health as only “fair” or “poor,” including extra-large proportions of adults under the age of 30, adults who identify as LGBT, and those with an annual income of less than $40,000. A third of all adults said they felt anxious always or often in the past year, including more than half of LGBT adults and those under 30. About 1 in 5 adults said they were always or always depressed or only in the past year. , also.
The main sources of stress for a third or more of adults include personal finances and political and current events. About 1 in 4 adults also identified personal relationships and work, respectively, as the main sources of stress.
According to the new survey, about 1 in 5 adults received mental health services in the past year. Earlier data published by the CDC supports that finding and shows that mental health treatment became more common over the course of the pandemic: Nearly 22% of adults received mental health treatment in 2021, up from 19% in 2019.
“Perhaps one of the only benefits of the pandemic and the change our country has experienced is the increased willingness to acknowledge and talk about when we may be struggling or in need of support,” said Sarah Brummett, director of the Alliance Executive Committee. National Action for Suicide Prevention.
“People are more willing to roll up their sleeves and talk about it and support people. And I think that’s progress.”
Despite the increased willingness and stressors commonly shared among the public, most adults with fair or poor mental health said they don’t feel comfortable talking to their loved ones about it, some to maintain privacy and others to avoid the shame and stigma associated with mental health. health problems.
But the vast majority, more than 4 in 5, of those surveyed say that individuals and families should play an important role in treating mental health problems in the US, equal to the proportion who say so same from health care providers.
Experts say there is an opportunity to broaden perceptions about how mental health is part of overall physical health and how to respond to mental health crises.
“Not everyone is a cardiologist, but a lot of people are trained in CPR,” said Justin Baker, a psychologist and assistant professor at The Ohio State University School of Medicine. “If we just rely on the mental health force, we will keep going around in circles and never get anywhere. I think we see this as all of our problems.”
However, the groups most likely to say they need mental health care in the US are also least likely to say they can get it.
Nearly 6 in 10 adults who say their mental health is fair or poor say they haven’t been able to get needed care, as do about half of adults under 30 and LGBT adults.
For those who have been without help, the most common reasons cited were being too busy or unable to take time off work, not being able to afford the cost and being afraid or embarrassed to seek care, according to the CNN and KFF survey.
In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden outlined a multifaceted strategy to address the nation’s mental health crisis, including goals to integrate mental health into primary care, invest in the workforce, and new approaches to programs that deliver care.
“Let’s get all Americans the mental health services they need, more people they can turn to for help, and full parity between physical and mental health care,” he said in his March speech.
According to the survey, most Americans see those issues as major problems. A majority, 55%, say not enough mental health providers are a big problem, with about three-quarters saying insurers don’t cover mental health in the same way physical health is a concern important, and 80% say the same about the cost of mental health care.
Through the American Rescue Plan, the Biden administration has invested $5 billion in mental health and substance use programs through the US Department of Health and Human Services, with billions more proposed in future budgets.
A significant change occurred this summer, with the transition from National Lifeline for Suicide Prevention to a three-digit dialing code: 988. Early data suggests success, with call hopping 45% in the first month compared to the same period of the previous year.
But according to the new survey, there is still work to be done.
The vast majority of adults (85%) say they would be at least somewhat likely to call the hotline if they or a loved one were experiencing a mental health crisis, and it is a good alternative to 911, which about a quarter of adults, especially Black and LGBT adults say it would do more harm than good in a mental health crisis situation.
It also has potential to help Hispanics and the uninsured, who are more likely than average to say they don’t know who to call if there’s a mental health crisis and wouldn’t know where to find services.
Yet more than half of adults in the new survey say they haven’t heard “anything at all” about the new 988 hotline.
“This may be a preventable public health issue and we all have a role to play,” Brummett said.
Fieldwork for the CNN/KFF Mental Health Survey was conducted by SSRS from July 28 to August 9 among a random national sample of 2,004 adults. The survey includes 1,603 adults who were surveyed online after being recruited using probability-based methods and 401 adults who were selected by random digit dialing and contacted via landline phones by a live interviewer. or cell phones. The results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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