Survey: Depression, suicide at top of Long Islanders' health concerns

Depression and suicide together ranked as the "biggest ongoing health concern" among respondents to the Long Island Health Collaborative's annual survey, a reflection of a greater need for mental health services as people continue to grapple with the pandemic's emotional toll, experts said.

According to the survey, 52.5% of Suffolk County respondents said "mental health depression/suicide" topped the list of health concerns "in the community where you live." That category garnered a lower percentage among Nassau respondents — 36.7% — but still ranked highest among the other health concerns listed.

When asked, "What are the biggest health concerns for yourself?" 39% of Suffolk respondents cited mental health depression/suicide, while 33.3% of Nassau respondents listed "obesity/weight loss issues." Concerns over personal mental health was not in the top five for the Nassau respondents.

This year's survey had 529 respondents: 353 from Suffolk and 125 from Nassau. Fifty-one respondents did not list a county of residence.

Mental health tops list

Mental health concerns overall rose to the top of results in the 2022 survey, replacing cancer, which ranked highest in the previous two years, said Janine Logan, executive director of the collaborative, which is a partnership of Long Island hospitals, county health departments, physicians, health providers, community-based social and human service agencies, local governments and others.

The collaborative focuses on improving Long Islanders' health, according to its website, "with a focus on the reduction of chronic diseases." 

"Cancer is still a concern," Logan said, but "mental health rose to the top this year." Still, chronic diseases, "which are a constellation of illnesses and disorders, like diabetes, asthma, heart disease, hypertension, arthritis" continue to be a concern for survey respondents.

Trends over the 10 years the survey has been conducted show that chronic conditions have been ranked in the top five for many years, as well as mental health and substance misuse issues. She added: "Obesity and weight loss have been appearing in the top five concerns for the past five years of the survey" as well.

The survey is small, a reflection of the limitations affecting the voluntary collaborative. Logan said it used a "convenience sampling method," whereby the electronic and paper versions of the survey are distributed by members of the collaborative to their clients. The survey had an 8.8% margin of error for the Nassau responses, and 5.2% among Suffolk responses, Logan said. She noted in years past, the survey had more Nassau respondents.

"We are limited to where [organizations] distribute it and who takes it," Logan said. "We are a voluntary, unfunded initiative" that does not have the money to undertake a randomized survey, she said.

A heightened awareness

Nevertheless, the primacy of mental health concerns in the survey comes at a time of heightened awareness about mental health needs and a growing demand for related services during the coronavirus pandemic that are ongoing, some experts said.

Jeffrey McQueen, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, said the survey confirms what his organization has seen.

"People are living with a high rate of depression, and they're also having a great deal of suicide ideation," which is contemplating suicide often. "We get calls from parents, caretakers or friends or individuals" about these concerns, he said.

"I would tell you the demand for services has probably increased by about 60%," McQueen continued. "That influx began since COVID. I think COVID is definitely a factor. Not only that, I think not just COVID, but also the time frame in which people are able to access care. Demand is high, but access is low. There aren't as many psychiatrists, therapists and treatment centers as there is need."

Adam Gonzalez, a licensed clinical psychologist and vice chair of Behavioral Health at Stony Brook Medicine, said that while the survey responses "are a bit low," other data indicate that "depression and mental health conditions more broadly have been on the rise, especially throughout the pandemic. And we see that nationally as well."

Gonzalez, who is also founding director of the Stony Brook University Mind-Body Clinical Research Center at the Renaissance School of Medicine, said the impact of "social isolation and disruption to one's daily life we all experienced throughout COVID, both to our personal lives and professional lives" has been a factor.

"COVID was a prolonged traumatic experience, and people were dying," Gonzalez said. "I think people are having more time now to process what that experience was like" as they moved out of "survival mode." For some, that has meant a high degree of stress, he said. 

The pandemic, Gonzalez said, has "shined a light on mental health. … I think we started to experience a greater shift in how people view mental health and a greater respect for mental health and mental health treatment."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie