APA poll reveals anxieties of Americans

Key takeaways:

• Most Americans polled said they were anxious about their or their family’s safety, their health, expenses and climate change.
• Younger people were more likely to know about treatments such as psychedelics.

A poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association indicated that 37% of adults reported feeling more anxious than they felt 1 year ago, according to a press release from the organization.

The annual poll was conducted among 2,201 adults from April 20 to April 22.

Specifically, the poll found that fewer adults reported feeling this way in 2022 (32%). However, more participants reported feeling this way in 2021 (41%) and 2020 (62%) compared with this year.

Further, 70% of adults reported feeling anxious about their or their family’s safety. Results from the APA’s most recent complementary Healthy Minds Monthly poll indicate that 42% of adults reported feeling very anxious about gun violence, up 5 percentage points, according to the release.

The annual poll also revealed that 68% of adults were anxious about keeping their identity safe, 66% were anxious about their health, 65% were anxious about bills and expenses, 59% were anxious about climate change, 50% were anxious about the opioid epidemic and 45% were anxious about the impact of emerging technology on daily life, according to the release.

“In some ways, with the end of the public health emergency, there might be a misconception that all of a sudden, everything goes back to normal or the way we used to remember it,” Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, president of the APA, said in a press briefing. “What we’re seeing is that there are profound and lasting effects of where we’ve been over the last 3 years, and a lot of worry in the world right now about economic uncertainty, about violence, about how we’re going to come out of this period of time. This is such an important opportunity for psychiatrists to put their finger on the pulse of where the American public is so that we can be prepared and respond.”

Results from the poll showed that half of adults were familiar with mental health treatments that implemented previously banned substances such as psychedelics and ketamine, with younger people being more likely to report familiarity. While half of respondents said they would consider treatment with cannabis, most said they would not consider psychedelic (59%) or ketamine (56%) treatment.

Additionally, more than half of parents reported concerns about their children’s technology use and mental state.

Overall, most adults believed that mental health impacts physical health (78%), and that untreated mental illness impacts families (78%) and the economy (64%). Notably, 34% of respondents said they would not vote for a candidate for elected office if they had ever been diagnosed with a mental illness. This is 7% higher than last year, according to the release.

“The majority of the public understands something we’ve been saying for a long time: your mental health is about your health,” Saul Levin, MD, MPA, APA CEO and medical director, said in the release. “It’s contingent upon us as a field to continue to spread that message, and that those who are experiencing mental health concerns aren’t alone and that there are ways to receive help.”