The 7th edition of the Chilean Mental Health Thermometer showed that the suspicion of the presence of mental distress increased due to a significant increase in a set of factors in female cases. Specifically, they reported greater loneliness and insomnia, whereas the opposite variation was recorded in men.
26% of Chilean women feel lonely According to the Chilean Mental Health Thermometer, a study conducted by the Chilean Safety Association and the Catholic University, this represents an increase of two percentage points compared to last year’s readings. In the same category, men also showed a similar number of point drops, up to 15%.
The survey showed that 25% of those interviewed had mental health problems, an increase of 6 percentage points from the previous survey and a decrease of 2 percentage points compared to men (which reached 9.6%). there were.
Daniela Campos, Head of Psychosocial Risk Technology at ACHS, explained: Joint statement “Gender differences in mental health issues are something we have seen since the start of this survey. , the trend of declining or flattening has broken.
“This time, we found that only men reflected a significant decline, while women showed an increase for the first time in years,” he stressed.
A similar variation was seen when people consulted about their awareness of insomnia, rising to 18.6% for women but dropping to 13.8% for men.
Another related increase was in symptoms of depression, with 20% of those showing symptoms of depression, almost 4 percentage points higher than in 2022. In stark contrast to men, they fell almost four points to 6.8%.
“The relative reduction in levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the male population contrasts with the stable levels of anxiety and increased depressive symptoms observed in women,” said psychologist Antonia Errazuris of the University of California, Department of Psychiatry. ‘ said. . This result most likely reflects the discriminatory exposure of these groups to the effects of the country’s current economic crisis. ”
