May is Mental Health Awareness Month and as it comes to a close, one Utah-based researcher asked, what are some of the most googled mental health concerns? Termlife2go.com took a list of mental health conditions and concerns from established resources like the National Alliance on Mental Illness and mentalhealth.gov to figure out what each state is asking about.
New York’s top three were financial stress, intimacy issues, and internet addiction. Termlife2go Media Relations Specialist Cosette Jarrett said they plan on doing the study again next year.
“We felt like there were a lot of really interesting findings like Alaska was looking at seasonal affective disorder which definitively made sense,” Jarrett said. “Here in our home state of Utah people were looking at post-partum depression which makes sense because we actually have a really high birth rate here.”
Jarrett said one reason she thinks financial stress ranked so high in New York is because Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens are three of the most expensive areas to live in the country.
Stress at work, memory loss and schizophrenia were also high up on New York’s list. One that was suprisingly not near the top for New York or nationally was anxiety.
“I feel like it’s a pretty common one, especially here in the states,” Jarret said. “But we did see the top three most common concerns were major depressive disorder, internet addiction and memory loss as well.”
Jarrett said they went back and forth on whether they wanted to focus on diagnosable conditions or things additionally that contributed to mental health.
“It seemed interesting to do things that people were concerned about because it tells more of a story about the state as well,” she said. “It was really interesting for us to see that, especially in New York, your guys’ top five was filled with a lot of things that were more of like a symptom of a mental health condition versus an actual condition itself.”
While it can be common to count on google to answer your questions, Jarret said it’s always best to consult a professional.
“Even if it just feels like it’s a common stress at work or financial stress, if it’s something that’s bugging you enough that you feel like you have to go to the internet for answers, it might be worth consulting someone for professional help,” she said.
You can view the full study here at https://termlife2go.com/most-googled-mental-health-concerns/
And if you are looking for how to receive mental health help, you can visit https://www.mentalhealth.gov/get-help
