Posted on March 15, 2022
The 2021 Mental State of the World report shows a decline in mental health worldwide, with young adults reporting the poorest outcomes. The report included 34 countries with over 220,000 internet-enabled adults. Ken Duckworth, MD, NAMI Chief Medical Officer, called the survey "extremely well timed and creative, although it only looked at internet-enabled populations, so one cannot make too many overall pronouncements, because a lot of people don't have access to the internet." The data regarding young people are particularly powerful. "The idea that young people are having a decrease in their experience of mental health across the world is something I haven't seen before." Duckworth suggested the reason might "have to do with the impact of the COVID lockdown on normal development that young people go through, while older people don't struggle with these developmental challenges in the same way."
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