- Nearly half of Iowans or someone close to them have experienced a serious mental health problem at least once in the past few years.
- Fifty-seven percent of Iowans said they had difficulty getting adequate mental health treatment.
- Rural Iowans often report greater difficulty receiving adequate mental health care.
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When Iowans, their family members or close friends face serious mental health issues, the majority of people say it’s difficult to get help.
A new poll conducted by the Des Moines Register and Medicom Iowa measures the prevalence of serious mental health issues among Iowans.
The poll found that nearly half of Iowans (46%) have experienced a serious mental health problem themselves or through someone close to them, such as a family member or friend, at least once in the past few years.
Fifty-two percent of Iowans say they or someone close to them has not experienced a serious mental health issue in the past few years, while 2% said they don’t know.
Among Iowans who said they had recently experienced at least one or two serious mental health issues, 57% said it was difficult to get proper treatment, while an additional 40% said it was easy to find treatment and 3% said they weren’t sure.
The poll was conducted June 9-14 by Selzer & Company among 806 Iowa adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Iowa, like the rest of the U.S., has seen a sharp increase in the prevalence of mental health issues among both adults and youth in recent years.
At the same time, many Americans report difficulties accessing treatment for mental illness.
A new Iowa poll shows that the state is also struggling with this worsening health care problem.
Iowa seniors less likely to report mental health issues
The Iowa poll asked Iowans how often they have experienced serious mental health issues in recent years, either themselves or through family or friends.
One in five Iowans (20%) report that they or someone close to them have experienced serious mental health issues multiple times in the past few years, with 14% reporting several times and 12% reporting only once or twice.
Older Iowans are less likely than younger people to report that they or someone close to them has experienced a serious mental health problem.
67% of Iowans age 55 and older say they or someone close to them has not experienced a serious mental health problem in recent years.
That rate is nearly three-quarters (74%) among people over age 65. By comparison, 47% of Iowans ages 35-54 and 37% of Iowans under age 35 report never experiencing a serious mental health problem.
People under 35 are most likely to report having recently and repeatedly experienced a serious mental health problem, either themselves or through someone else, at 30%, compared with 21% of those aged 35-54 and 12% of those aged 55 and over.
Rural Iowa residents face big challenges finding care
Among Iowans who said they or someone close to them had recently experienced a mental health issue, 29% said it was quite difficult to get appropriate treatment, and 29% said it was very difficult to get appropriate treatment.
The poll found that these challenges exist across education levels: 56% of Iowans without a college degree and 59% of Iowans with a college degree reported experiencing some hardship.
The poll found that access to treatment for serious mental illness is difficult for most people, regardless of where they live, with at least half of people living in the state’s cities, suburbs, towns and rural areas experiencing some degree of difficulty. This was true across Iowa’s four districts.
However, people living in rural areas and towns were more likely to report that it was very difficult to find treatment: 36% and 33%, respectively, compared with 21% of people living in cities and 25% of people living in suburban areas.
Poll respondent Amy Stark said she believes cost is the biggest challenge for rural Iowans who need mental health care. The 48-year-old Lawrence resident, who has struggled with suicidal thoughts in the past, said she lives 45 minutes away from the nearest mental health care provider.
“In smaller towns, that assistance may be harder to access because of gas prices,” she said. “When you have to choose between your mental health, feeding your kids or paying your rent, what takes priority?”
Stark said her son, then 20, struggled with suicidal thoughts two years ago and sought help from a mental health clinic in Storm Lake. He didn’t have health insurance and received a $500 bill for appointments and medication.
Stark said the now 21-year-old doesn’t yet have health insurance and hasn’t sought any additional treatment or medication.
“He’s not suicidal right now, but it’s always in the back of his mind,” said Stark, general manager of the Storm Lake plant’s cafeteria.
Megan Huey, 33, a Waukee resident and poll respondent, said through personal experience and her work as a physician assistant, she has seen how difficult it is for people to seek medical care.
Huey, who works in a rural health system, recounted cases in the past where patients had come to her urgent care clinic seeking mental health care, but she wasn’t equipped to provide them with treatment.
She would refer patients to their primary care physician or emergency department for help, but still felt like she was “abandoning her patients.”
“If I was just a layperson, or a regular person who didn’t know about the system, I wouldn’t have any idea how to navigate it,” she said. “That’s the really frustrating part for me.”
Huey said a close family member recently sought treatment for depression but had trouble finding a counselor in the area who would accept the person’s health insurance. The therapist the relative was seeing temporarily only accepted cash payments for sessions, which Huey said was not sustainable.
“The process became so difficult,” she says, “They went to a few therapists, but they didn’t feel like there was one that was right for them, and they didn’t know where to go from there, so they gave up.”
Forty percent of Iowans with serious mental health issues say it’s easy to find treatment.
The survey found that women (64%) were more likely than men (47%) to say they had difficulty accessing appropriate care.
Forty percent of Iowans say it was easy to find the right treatment, with 10% saying it was “very easy” and 30% saying it was “fairly easy.”
People who identify as Republicans (52%) are more likely to say it was easy to get appropriate mental health treatment than Democrats (31%) and Independents (35%).
Poll respondent Dennis Bond, a 65-year-old Republican from Grinnell, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder 20 years ago, which he said was triggered by the deaths of his two young sons. He has also since been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Bond sees a psychologist at the Marshalltown VA clinic and gets prescribed medication. He says it’s been easy to get the care he needs, and he believes the same can be true for others if they’re willing to seek help.
“Help is out there,” Bond says, “you just have to ask for it, and if you don’t get it the first time, keep trying.”
Michaela Lamb covers health care for the Des Moines Register. Contact her at Email:(319) 339-7354 or on Twitter Michael Lamb.
About the Iowa Poll
The Iowa Poll was conducted June 9-14, 2024 by Selzer & Company, Des Moines, for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, and is based on telephone interviews with 806 Iowans age 18 and older. Quantel Research interviewers contacted randomly selected households using landline and mobile phone numbers provided by Dynata. Interviews were conducted in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and district to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.
For a question asked of 806 Iowa adults, the maximum margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated 19 times out of 20 with the same questions and in the same way, the survey results would not vary from the actual population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. For results with smaller sample sizes of respondents, such as gender or age, the margin of error is even larger.
Republishing copyrighted Iowa Poll material without credit and linking to original The Des Moines Register and Mediacom content on digital platforms is prohibited.
