Almost half of young adults in the US had mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, and more than a third could not access needed therapy. The corresponding study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
For the study, the researchers used data from the US Census Bureau to determine rates of anxiety and/ or depression symptoms in 2,809 individuals aged 18-25 years old. The data was collected between June and early July 2021, and included rates of mental health service utilization and unmet need for mental health therapy.
From their analysis, the researchers found that 48% of young adults displayed mental health symptoms during the period. This is significantly higher than other figures suggesting that 30.6% of young adults experienced any mental illness in 2020. It is, however, less than figures found in a previous CDC study reporting that 63% of young adults experienced symptoms of depression or anxiety a year earlier in June 2020.
The researchers also found that of the young adults reporting mental health symptoms, 39% reported using medications and/or receiving counseling, while 36% reported an unmet counseling need.
"Given that only about one third of those with symptoms received care, we might have expected to see closer to two-thirds reporting unmet need," said Sally Adams, PhD, RN, a specialist in UCSF's Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and one of the study’s authors.
"It could be that the people with symptoms who didn't report unmet need either didn't think their symptoms were serious enough for treatment or feared the stigma of needing mental health services,” she added.
The researchers say that their results highlight a need to increase the size and distribution of the mental health workforce. While their sample only included individuals from the US, given the widespread nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, similar results may also be found in other countries.
Sources: Science Daily, Journal of Adolescent Health