Most Americans think “there is a mental health crisis in the United States today,” according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released on Monday.
Out of 1,000 U.S. voters polled between Dec. 27- 30, 87.6 percent say the United States is grappling with a mental health crisis. Nearly ten percent of voters disagree and 2.8 percent are undecided.
The survey further found that 59.1 percent believe “poor mental health care” is responsible for public shootings in schools and stores, 55.2 percent for alcohol and drug addiction, and 74.5 percent for suicides. However, 58.8 percent do not blame poor health care for “passenger attacks on flight attendants” — 32. 4 percent do.
Twenty-three percent of respondents say 2021 was “awful/terrible/bad/sucked” when asked to describe last year in a single word. The second most popular answer at 12 percent was “chaos/confusing/turmoil,” and third place at 11.1 percent was “challenging/hard/rough.”
“Disaster/train wreck/catastrophe” and “okay/good” were tied for fourth at 5.5 percent, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points.
The poll results reflect several other surveys and studies that have found Americans of all ages are struggling to cope with the current state of the world. In early December, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public health advisory on the mental health issues he said youth are facing from the harsh lockdowns and other protocols put in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
Another poll from June 2021 found that 18 percent of Americans believe they can rely on none or one for personal support amid the rise in Nihilism and less frequent church membership. Additionally, a study analyzing “young people’s fear about the climate crisis” reportedly found that 45 percent of 16-25-year-olds say, “climate-related anxiety and distress is affecting their daily lives and ability to function normally.”