77% of Americans have used one of these “unhealthy coping mechanisms” to manage a mental health crisis…which one did you get into?
- More than three-quarters of Americans know that habits like drinking and clubbing are bad
- These coping habits feel good in the moment, but have long-term consequences
- READ MORE: American children are engulfed in a worsening mental health crisis
More than three-quarters of Americans are consciously engaging in unhealthy coping habits, a study suggests.
A survey conducted by Myriad Genetics in Salt Lake City, Utah, found that 77 percent of Americans report using drugs or eating or sleeping unhealthy to cope with mental health issues.
These coping mechanisms sometimes help a person feel better in the short term, but have long-term consequences.
Coping with mental health issues goes hand in hand with addiction, and this is borne out in the US, where 107,000 fatal drug overdoses hit in 2021. More than four percent were suicides.
Many people dealing with mental illness struggle to find a treatment regimen that relieves their depression and anxiety symptoms, leading them toward unhealthy self-medication rather than taking advice from a mental health expert.
Survey responses show that while the vast majority of Americans know that some of their coping mechanisms are unhealthy, they still engage in them because those habits provide temporary relief
A nationwide survey conducted by the genetic testing company found addictive or unhealthy coping mechanisms that people engage in most avidly, including substance abuse such as drinking or consuming marijuana.
It also included: gambling, not sleeping enough or too much, eating too much or too little, overusing social media, binging TV shows and partying.
Dawn Johnson, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at the Indiana Center for Recovery in South Bend, said, “Many of my patients have struggled with depression and/or anxiety but have been unable to find treatment that makes them feel better.
So they resorted to alcohol, drugs, or destructive behaviors to calm themselves down, as these provided short-term relief.
“However, this behavior resulted in the deterioration of their mental health and the destruction of their lives. I’ve seen it personally.’
The GeneSight Mental Health Monitor survey found that 94 percent of Americans agreed that drug and behavioral addictions often mask deeper mental health problems.
But the same group said they were working on it anyway.
For example, 70 percent of people diagnosed with anxiety or depression slept too much or too little to cope with their symptoms.
About 40 percent used alcohol to survive, while 20 percent used marijuana.
About the same number of people used other medicines, such as painkillers, to relieve their illness.
Sixty-four percent withdrew from social activities, leading to isolation that more often than not exacerbated depression and anxiety.
Meanwhile, 49 percent said they binge-watch TV or movies to distract themselves from unpleasant emotions.
While about 90 percent of respondents acknowledged that you can’t party away from your depression, about 10 percent choose to go to a club anyway.
And almost everyone understands that excessive gambling is a Band-Aid for an underlying mental health problem, but that knowledge is not enough to stop nearly 10 percent of respondents.
The new research results come as the US is entrenched in a mental health crisis driven by skyrocketing rates of substance abuse, feelings of isolation exacerbated during the pandemic, and other uniquely American problems such as near-constant school shootings and unaffordable health care.
American children are reporting an increasing number of mental health problems, and while the pandemic has certainly exacerbated the problems, the numbers had been rising for years before Covid swept the world three years ago.
A study published last year found that nearly ten percent of American children age 17 or younger reported symptoms of anxiety, while just under five percent reported symptoms of depression.