About 2,400 adults in Young County said their mental health was not good on at least 14 of the last 30 days, according to the newest county estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is 17.3 percent of adults, up from 14.6 percent in the CDC's pre-pandemic estimates. Olney's rate is 17.8 percent, and Graham's is 18.1 percent. The CDC said 252 of Texas's 253 counties are higher than before the pandemic. The CDC said frequent mental distress is not a diagnosis.
According to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Young County has one mental health provider for every 1,073 residents. The state has one for every 553. The group also reported that 23.6 percent of Young County adults under 65 have no health insurance, compared with 21.6 percent statewide. The CDC data also show 37.8 percent of county adults sleep less than seven hours a night and 23.4 percent have been told by a health professional that they have depression.
Olander Earthworks, a Portland, Oregon, studio that researches how adults unwind, surveyed 121 mental health and allied practitioners. Of those, 82 percent said adults have fewer chances than before for unstructured, screen-free activity. Of the practitioners who use hands-on activities with clients, 69 percent said people talk more openly once they get started. The studio said the survey is small and reflects those practitioners, not the whole field. Anyone in crisis can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, at any time.