“Many people in the United States experience mental health conditions, which raises questions about mental health service utilization patterns and what barriers exist with connecting people to services. Prior research suggests that mental health service utilization increased over time. This analysis explores more recent data, from 2019 to 2022, to understand the latest trends in utilization of mental health services and how it differs by demographics and insured status. In this analysis, receipt of mental health care is measured as the share of people who say they received mental health counseling and/or prescription medication for mental health concerns in the last year. Estimates shown are KFF analyses of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data among adults in the U.S. from 2019 to 2022.
In 2022, 23% of adults received mental health treatment, up from 19% in 2019 (Figure 1). Specifically, the share of adults saying they received mental health counseling in the past year increased from 10% in 2019 to 13% in 2022. Similarly, the share of adults reporting they took prescription medication for mental health conditions increased from 16% to 19% during the same period. Receipt of prescription medication remained consistently higher than counseling (19% vs. 13%, respectively, in 2022).”