A recent CNN poll indicates that more than two-thirds of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, are dissatisfied with the current state of the nation.
Women Are The Most Unhappy
The poll found that 52% of the respondents attributed their unhappiness to the deteriorating state of the economy, while others cited issues such as political polarization, the president, or rising crime rates.
Many Americans feel that the overall cost of living is contributing to their unhappiness, as housing, gas, and student loan debt costs continue to skyrocket. “Housing market is terrible, gas prices are terrible. Student loan debt is astronomical. Even though I agree students should pay their own loan, it shouldn’t be that expensive in the first place,” said one respondent in the poll.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that women are feeling the brunt of the unhappiness. According to the publication, middle-aged women have the highest rates of antidepressant use in the United States.
One in Four Women 60+ Use Antidepressants
One in five American women aged 40 to 59 and one in four women aged 60 are using antidepressants, compared to only one in 10 women aged 18 to 39. Overall, antidepressant prescriptions increased from 216 million in 2019 to 224 million in 2021.
The studies also found a dramatic increase in suicide and self-harm rates for women.
The hospitalization rates for self-harm have increased by 140% since 2010, and the average rate for girls aged 10-19 rose from 3 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 3.5 per 100,000 in 2020.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 57% of American teenage girls “felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021,” which was double the rate for boys at an almost 60% increase.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to feelings of loneliness and sadness among young people, as over 44% of young people felt “sad or persistently alone” during lockdowns, according to CDC data.
Increase in Anger and Frustration
A recent overview of 10 years of Gallup poll data found that women worldwide are experiencing an increase in anger and frustration rates. Naomi Schaefer Riley, writing in The New York Post, comments that this rise in unhappiness correlates with the last 60 years of feminism.
“Indeed, as feminism’s influence has grown over the past half-century, women have become less happy,” she writes.
Riley adds that when feminism was in its early days, “some housewives were being prescribed ‘happy pills’ to get them through the day,” but the onset of women’s liberation doesn’t seem to have helped, given that most women today – despite being “liberated” and establishing themselves independently from traditional household structures – are taking antidepressants themselves.
The findings of these studies indicate that while Americans are struggling with their overall satisfaction with life, women are disproportionately affected, with many turning to antidepressants to cope with their unhappiness.
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