Biden identified the country’s worsening mental health crisis as a top national priority during his State of the Union address this year. Nearly 53 million Americans in 2020 were affected by mental illness, and substance use disorders affected 15% of U.S. adults, according to the HHS.
The COVID-19 pandemic compounded the crisis, with a rising rate of overdose deaths and an increase in self-reported symptoms of anxiety, the HHS said. Yet utilization of mental health and substance use disorder services fell sharply at the beginning of the pandemic and has been slower to rebound than other types of healthcare, the report said.
