Most IL Poll Respondents Report Regular Anxiety, Depression

CHICAGO — Over two pandemic-plagued years, anxiety and depression have become a serious public health issue that some experts say deserves as much attention as the coronavirus crisis's physical toll.

A U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national pulse survey shows a more than 20 percentage point increase — from 11 percent in 2019 to 32 percent this year — in people reporting symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders affecting their mental health.

MORE ON PATCH: How Are You Doing? Coping During America's Pandemic Depression

The troubling national trend hasn't bypassed folks in Chicago and throughout the state.

Hundreds of Patch readers who responded to our online poll of how they were feeling overwhelmingly reported being bothered by feeling down, on edge, uncontrollable worrying and a loss of interest in doing things over the last two weeks.

The four-question survey, while not a scientific study, provided a snapshot of how folks willing to answer questions about their mental health are feeling as life during a pandemic enters a third year.

Here are some key takeaways from the Patch poll:

Overall, folks who did not report having depression and anxiety symptoms were in the minority.

About 42 percent of survey respondents said that over the last two weeks, they hadn't been troubled by feeling depressed and hopeless. About 36 percent say they did not feel nervous or anxious. More than 43 percent of respondents say they had no problems being overwhelmed by worry. And about 26 percent remained interested in doing things.

When asked how often they felt depressed in the last two weeks, about 16 percent of people reported having symptoms nearly every day. Another 14 percent said they were bothered by those feelings more than half of the days. And 27 percent reported feeling down several days during that period.

Almost 19 percent of survey respondents said they were bothered by anxiety symptoms nearly every day. About 15 percent of people said symptoms troubled them more than half of the days over the past two weeks. And nearly 31 percent reported feeling nervous, anxious or on edge several days during that period.

Fewer people, about 15 percent of respondents, said they felt troubled every day by uncontrollable worry or a loss of interest in doing things.

And about 29 percent of people said they were bothered by uncontrollable worrying at least several days during the last two weeks.