SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Working Americans' risk of addiction, depressive disorder and PTSD has doubled between February and April 2020, according to The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition powered by Total Brain in partnership with One Mind at Work. Not surprising, feelings of stress rose 38 percent, anxiety 54 percent and depressive mood 61 percent. Data shows that the marked spike in declining mental health corresponds with the rise in U.S. COVID-19 cases.
Total Brain is a leading mental health and wellness monitoring and support platform that leverages brain-based self-awareness and training. The Mental Health Index findings are based on the Total Brain Assessment, which uses standardized, scientifically based digital tasks and questions to measure a person's twelve brain capacities across the areas of emotion, feeling, cognition and self-control. Further the assessment screens for the risk of seven common mental health conditions. The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition is the first in an ongoing series to be reported monthly. Total Brain's intention is to build out The Mental Health Index to measure multiple sectors and geographies over time.
"We launched The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition to enable the public and corporations to measure mental health progress and performance against a valid national benchmark," explained Louis Gagnon, CEO, Total Brain. "Our findings shed a light on the growing need for strong workplace mental health support during these unpredictable times and beyond. We thank One Mind at Work, a leading advocate for employee mental health and wellness, for joining us in this quest to drive further advocacy and action on behalf of those who suffer from mental illness."
"Findings from The Mental Health Index underscore the importance of bringing leaders together to transform approaches to mental health and addiction and effectively promote mental health as important as physical health," said Garen Staglin, Chairman, One Mind. "One Mind at Work's growing global coalition of companies and organizations are committed to transforming approaches to mental health and addiction for employees and the Total Brain platform will help employers better equip their employees with mental health resources."
Younger Workers More Stressed as Level of Negativity Differs by Age
While growing negative emotion is a hallmark of all age groups, not all generations reflected the same levels of negative emotion in the Total Brain assessment. The Mental Health Index shows:
Ages 20-39: Reported more intense feelings of stress, anxiety, and depressed mood throughout the measurement period.
Over 40: Demonstrated the greatest increase in depressive disorder, PTSD and addiction since early February, with a significant 4.7-fold increase in the number of people 60 and older experiencing symptoms of PTSD during this time.
Ages 40-59: Revealed the second highest levels of stress, anxiety and depressed mood, but the sharpest increase over the measurement period. Anxiety levels are up a whopping 83%.
60 and older: Showed the lowest scores for stress anxiety and depressed mood, but the highest for nonconscious negativity.
These age breakdowns are consistent with average mean scores before the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, the youngest group already started with the highest stress level as a normal average. The increase among all age groups, however, demonstrates a shared sense of negative emotion across all participants.
For more information on The Mental Health Index by Total Brain and to receive monthly updates on the mental health of U.S. workers, please visit www.totalbrain.com/mentalhealthindex. To learn more about Total Brain's free three-month subscription visit www.totalbrain.com/try.
About Total Brain Total Brain is based in San Francisco and publicly listed in Sydney, AUS (ASX:TTB). Total Brain is a mental health and wellness monitoring and support platform that has over 800,000 registered users. Benefits for employers and payers include productivity improvement and healthcare cost reduction. Follow Total Brain on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
About One Mind One Mind is a leading mental health non-profit that catalyzes comprehensive action across the scale of the brain health crisis, working from science to patients to society. Moving towards our VISION of HEALTHY BRAINS FOR ALL, One Mind is accelerating treatments and cures for mental disorders and providing hope to patients and their families.
Launched in 2017, One Mind at Work is a global coalition of leaders from diverse sectors who have joined together with the goal of transforming approaches to mental health and addiction. One Mind at Work now includes more than 25 global employers and 18 research and content partners. The coalition covers nearly 6 million people under its charter.
Methodology
The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition contains data drawn from a weekly randomized sample of 500 working Americans taken from a larger universe of Total Brain users that includes workers from all walks of life and regions. The data is not survey data by nature. It comes from a mix of validated tasks and questions that are part of a unique neuroscientific assessment of the Total Brain.
The participant assessments used to compile the Mental Health Index were taken weekly from Feb.3 to April 19. The assessment questions are identical to Total Brain's standard assessments. Total Brain collected responses across the entire Total Brain U.S. user base, from all who voluntarily participated. Total Brain performed statistical analysis of the data from a random sampling of up to 500 users each week since February 2020. The sample is drawn from a universe of US workers that include most US regions, job levels, occupations, industries and types of organizations (public vs. private).
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