February 21, 2023 – In Pollara’s 19th wave of bi-monthly mental health tracking research for Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC), we have found the worst self-reported mental health indicators amongst Canadians since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one-in-ten adults are reporting high rates of anxiety or depression, with a significant increase in depression driven by notably higher rates in Alberta and Ontario.
With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, MHRC launched a bi-monthly survey of Canadians, dedicated to measuring, understanding, and tracking the country’s mental health. Today, MHRC released the results of its 19th surveyin the series. Designed, fielded, and analysed by Pollara Strategic Insights on behalf of MHRC, the national online survey of N=3,224 adult Canadians was conducted from January 15-24, 2024. Other key findings in the study include:
- There is a significant correlation between a high amount of personal screen time and negative mental health indicators. One in four (26%) young Canadians spend 6 or more hours of their personal time on screens per day. While the negative impact of daily news on mental health is slightly better than during the pandemic, the impact of social media has worsened.
- Two-fifths of Canadians still feel that the state of the economy is impacting their mental health, and food and housing insecurities remain at a consistent level.
- More than one in four Canadians (27%) currently live with chronic pain, with the majority reporting that it has a daily, debilitating impact on their lives. Further insights explore the intersection of chronic pain and opioid use.
- Awareness of the new 988 crisis suicide helpline is high, with already 46% of Canadians having heard of it and 3% having used it.
- One-in-five (21%) Canadians have either accessed a mental health support in the past year (15%) or feel they should be accessing a support (6%). This rate of need rose last quarter and remains elevated when looking at post-pandemic indicators.
These, and other findings from this latest poll, are featured in both a summary report and a full report – both of which are free to view and download on the MHRC website. In addition, MHRC hosts a Pollara-managed interactive data portal, which allows Canadians to search, view, and interact with the tracking datasets from all waves of this ongoing series of surveys.
