Economic stress isn’t the only factor when it comes to mental health issues. We all know people with plenty of financial resources who struggle, just like we know professional athletes who exercise all the time and still struggle. That being said, we would be stupid not to acknowledge the increased risk.
A geographical analysis of the United States reveals that regional mental health is closely tied to local economic conditions. Communities with higher household incomes, lower commute times, and more college graduates consistently report better psychological well-being.
We have spent countless hours, money, and political energy blaming social media for the increase in mental health struggles, but we spend very little time talking about the much larger impacts that financial stress has. The cost of living crisis, the fact that almost no one has a job that they feel secure about, teens watching parents deal with layoffs and job stress, the complete domination of our lives by work, and an incredibly stressful political environment that isn’t interested in alleviating that financial stress in any meaningful way are impacting people all around us, and we’re looking for simple solutions instead of looking at the very society we live in as the problem. We do that because the system works for those in power. They don’t feel all of this; the rest of us do.
Until we figure out how to include everyone in economic growth, this will only get worse. And most people will wander around wondering why so many people are struggling “all of the sudden,” and why so many people can’t seem to figure out how not to be poor, because they are blind to the reality.