People walk across a street near the railway station in San Mateo city, California, the United States, April 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
"The pandemic has spurred an important conversation about the need to take care of ourselves. In the population as a whole, we're seeing that reflected," says Calliope Holingue.
NEW YORK, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The share of U.S. adults who received treatment for mental health grew throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data published Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nearly 22 percent of adults got mental health treatment in 2021, up from about 19 percent in 2019. This jump is probably due to a combination of increased need and better access to treatment, said Calliope Holingue, a psychiatric epidemiologist.
"The pandemic has spurred an important conversation about the need to take care of ourselves. In the population as a whole, we're seeing that reflected," she said.
Overall, the CDC report found that the increase in mental health treatment was driven largely by adults under the age of 45, said CNN in its report of the data.
Adults 18 to 44 were least likely to have received treatment for mental health in 2019 but became the most likely in 2021, seeing a jump of nearly 5 percentage points over the time span, it added. ■
