The study shows depression is a bipartisan issue and highlights gaps in mental health access, with Republicans less likely to seek help

As the U.S. faces a growing mental health crisis, a recent study highlights the urgent need for bipartisan efforts to improve access to health care.

The study, published this month in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, shows that the mental health crisis, particularly depression, affects Americans of all political affiliations.

However, according to the study, Republicans are less likely to have sought medical care — even though they report similar rates of depression compared to Democrats and independents. This underscores the need to ensure access to mental health care as a bipartisan priority in public health policy, the researchers concluded.

This research – led by Catherine Ettman, PhD, and C. Ross Hatton, PhD, MPA, of the Department of Health Policy and Management in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago – is timely as the US grapples with mental health impacts the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global anxiety and depression rates increased by 25% in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a scientific report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Gaps in access to mental health

The study surveyed 2,479 U.S. adults last spring and focused on two key questions: whether depression rates varied by political party and whether people with depressive symptoms had access to mental health care.

Regardless of political affiliation, a troubling trend emerged: More than half of adults with depression (62%) said they had no need for mental health care in the past year.

Unlike previous studies that suggest poorer mental health among Democrats and Independents compared to Republicans, this study finds that depressive symptoms are nearly identical across party lines.

The data showed that 25.2% of Democrats tested positive for depression, compared to 23% of independents and 20.5% of Republicans. These differences were not statistically significant, suggesting that depression does not discriminate based on political beliefs.

While depression is impartial, access to treatment varies. The study found that Republicans who tested positive for depression were significantly less likely to seek help from a mental health provider in the past 12 months compared to Democrats and independents.

Additionally, among those with depressive symptoms, 73.9% of Republicans said their mental health care needs were unmet, compared to 58.9% of Democrats and 58% of Independents.

The study estimates that over 22.5 million adults experienced a depressive episode in 2022, making depression one of the most costly illnesses to the U.S. economy, costing over $326 billion annually.

“The level of unmet mental health needs for these groups was shockingly high across all groups, a sign that the country’s mental health infrastructure may not be adequate for the scale of the crisis,” Ettman said.

The researchers used the PHQ-9, a standardized measure of depressive symptoms adjusted for sociodemographic factors such as age, race, education and income. The results, representative of the U.S. population, were clear: While depression is not associated with political divisions, access to mental health care is.

Ultimately, the study highlights that expanding access to services could unite Americans across party lines.