Why 90% of consumers are reporting mental health issues… And how brands can react

Over the past 20 years, raised awareness and a dismantling of negative stigma has meant a new openness in discussing the issue of mental health, as well as a rise in people seeking help.

We asked our Bulbshare community to talk about the subject… Their experiences, their coping strategies and what they believe are the driving factors. With over 800 responses across 7 different countries, this is what our Bulbsharers had to say…

Common issues

An overwhelming 88% of our Bulbsharers said they had experienced mental health issues. And when asked about the types of problems they’d faced, the most common experiences were ‘depression’ (with 45% of our respondents saying they had experienced it at one time during their lives), ‘sleep problems’ (43%) and ‘anxiety and panic attacks’ (36%).

Driving factors

When asked to pick three main causes for a global rise in reports of poor mental health, 63% of respondents cited ‘personal finances’, 56% said ‘social media’ and 52% said ‘conflict with partners or friends’.

The workplace was also commonly mentioned, with 34% of our responses to open text box questions citing ‘work’ as an environment in which more needs to be done around the issue of mental health.

“… It should be mandatory for organisations to recognise the importance of mental health awareness.” (Bulbshare user)

“Companies should make it a norm to acknowledge that mental health is a real and important factor that affects productivity and figure out how they can help…” (Bulbshare user)

Key take-outs

• Our survey uncovered 100s of stories of people who have suffered with poor mental health, but with an overriding message around promoting openness, the importance of raising awareness and a need for governments and global brands to lend their voices to the cause.
• Our community wants big, global organisations to get behind campaigns that normalise and legitimise mental health issues.
• Over 30% of our anecdotal responses mentioned the workplace and – while discussing mental health is now largely destigmatised – there remained a common thread that employers could do more to encourage openness around the issue.

For the full report and to find out how Bulbshare could benefit your organisation, please contact Michael Wylie-Harris on michael@bulbshare.com