05/06/2021
According to Mental Health in America (MHA) their analyzed data collected between Jan. and Sept. 2020 from their online screening tool revealed the following:
•More than half a million people have reported signs of anxiety and/or depression, with Sept. reporting the highest rate of severity since the start of the pandemic. Anxiety screens were up by 634% from January and depression screens were up 873%).
•More than 1.5 million people have taken MHA’s online screening and looked for immediate resources and support at MHAscreening.org.
•Nearly 180,000 people who took the screening reported suicidal ideation on more than half the days or nearly every day, with the highest reported number of 37% in September 2020.
•Rates of suicidal ideation are highest among youth, especially LGBTQ+ youth. In September 2020, over half of 11-17-year-olds reported having thoughts of su***de or self-harm more than half or nearly every day of the previous two weeks. From Jan. to Sept. 2020, nearly 78,000 youth reported experiencing frequent suicidal ideation, including nearly 28,000 LGBTQ+ youth.
•Between April and Sept., 70% of people reported that loneliness or isolation was the top contributing factor to mental health issues, followed by past trauma (46.1%) and relationship problems (42%).
For more information visit www.mhanational.org
When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don't wait years to treat them. We start before Stage4--we begin with prevention. So why don't we do the same for individuals who are dealing with mental health concerns?
