Bob Unruh(WND)
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.
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“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.
Besides the massive inflation under Joe Biden’s policies in the White House, Americans also are facing a threat from the open border Biden has allowed, with millions of illegal aliens entering the country, as well as his priority agenda points of promoting abortion and transgenderism.
The report said women, young U.S. adults and those with lower incomes are least likely to rate their mental health positively.
“Data from the same poll show that nearly one-quarter of U.S. adults, 23%, report having visited a psychologist, therapist, psychiatrist or some other mental health professional in the past 12 months,” Gallup reported. “This marks a sizable uptick in mental health visits since the question was last asked in 2004, when 13% of U.S. adults said they had seen a mental health professional. At that time, a record-high 51% of Americans rated their mental health as excellent — 20 points higher than today. In 2001, the only other year Gallup asked about mental health visits, 10% reported seeing a professional and 43% described their mental health as excellent.”
The report noted that those who report poor mental health say they’ve visited professionals more often. “Four in five of the 24% of U.S. adults who say their mental health is only fair or poor say they have sought mental healthcare, while just one in five of the 75% who rate their mental health as excellent or good have sought help,” Gallup said.
The poll also asked for assessments about their physical health, too.
“Americans have consistently rated their physical health less positively than their mental health. Although U.S. adults’ latest ‘excellent’ physical health assessment of 26% is the lowest on record by one point, that rating has been less variable over time and has not been significantly affected by the pandemic. An additional 47% of Americans say their physical health is ‘good,’ while 21% describe it as ‘only fair’ and 5% as ‘poor.’”
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