Texas isn’t talking about mental health. Why?
I recently picked up Seth Stevens-Davidowitz’s Everybody Lies at the library. I read an article a while back about his ideas on ‘big’ data, and how data from Google searches can tell more about the thoughts and behaviors of people than any survey or questionnaire ever can.
I believe this to be true. You search Google for information you would never feel comfortable telling your friend, spouse, parent, teacher or colleague. Seth goes on to talk about how Google decided to publish this data with Google Trends. Google Trends is Google’s analysis of the data from their search engine. Even if you aren’t fascinated by statistics like I am, you’ll still have fun experimenting with this tool. Go ahead and search something random like “how to boil water.” Louisiana is number one, by the way.
After playing with the tool for an hour or two after some late night statistical analysis, I started to search terms related to mental health. I was curious which states most often (within the last twelve months) search for education or resources related to mental health. I found this interesting as you can assume that if folks in Ohio are searching for mental health resources, they believe two things about themselves: first, that they, or someone they know, may need assistance with their mental health. Second, they believe there are probably resources in Ohio to assist them. Or in the very least, they are curious enough to find out.
I started simple and searched “mental health.”
Want to know something fascinating? Texas got dead last in the state most often searching this term.
Now, some could say that this correlates to people in Texas not needing mental health services. Why search for mental health if you feel you are mentally stable, right?
Well, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) put out data on how Texas compares to the rest of the US in mental health related disorders. Some visuals from their report are below. Here is a link to the full report, released in 2015.
Texas seems to be lower than the national average, but not by much.
When getting a bit more specific (such as “mental health resources”) Texas starts to appear a little higher in the list (eighteen in a list of only twenty-four states coming up). But still, I wonder if Texans aren’t searching for mental health related information in Google because access to education, in combination with the stigmatization of mental health in Texas, is a perceived hinderance to empowering citizens to get help.
What I find more than anything with this data is that we need to talk about mental health in Texas more than we are. And not only that, we need to let the public know there are services and resources out there for when they need help.
On this note, below are several resources you can contact to start getting information on ways to seek help help in Travis County.
There is help out there. And Travis County is here to support you when you need it.
There are many more resources out there. If you need help finding available resources, start with one of the most useful tools we have at our disposal.
Google.
