A new poll reveals that only 31% of respondents describe their mental health as “excellent,” the lowest ever by three points.
And 23% reported visiting a mental-health professional in 2022, up from only 13% in 2004.
The results are from a new poll by Gallup, which said the self-assessments of mental health “are the lowest in more than two decades of Gallup polling.”
Another 44% of respondents said their mental health is “good,” and the combined 75% with “excellent” is the lowest on record and down 10 points from the average since 2001.
“In addition, 17% of U.S. adults describe their mental health as ‘only fair’ and 7% as ‘poor.’ The latter figure is the highest in Gallup’s trend,” the polling organization said.
Those rating themselves “excellent” averaged about 45% before the COVID-19 pandemic came out of China and killed millions worldwide.
“Gallup polling early in the pandemic found that U.S. adults were concerned about their own mental health and that of their children. By November 2020, eight months after the pandemic began in the U.S., Americans’ excellent assessments of their own mental health dropped nine points to 34%, a new low since the measure was first tracked in 2001,” Gallup said.
Last year the measurement was unchanged.
“The latest three-point dip in excellent mental health evaluations, from a Nov. 9-Dec. 2 Gallup poll, suggests that although the pandemic has improved, some of its ill effects remain. These include economic concerns precipitated by the highest inflation rate in more than four decades,” Gallup said.