Detroit Today: Exploring the evolving landscape of mental health conversations

‘Death, Sex & Money’ host Anna Sale explains how discussions around mental health have changed in recent years, and how people can begin to find help through challenging times.

41% of people had more anxiety in 2019 compared with 1990. There’s an epidemic of loneliness, according to a U.S. Surgeon General report, as only 39% of adults say they feel connected to others. Deaths have followed these sentiments — as suicide rates have increased about 36% between 2000 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and to honor that and better understand the mental health challenges people are enduring, the Death, Sex, & Money podcast out of WNYC is doing something a little different. Hosted by Anna Sale, the podcast is producing a series of national call-in shows about mental health from 8-10 p.m. on the first three Thursdays of this month. Each show can be streamed at wnyc.org


Listen: How conversations around mental health have changed over the last decade


Guest

Anna Sale is the host of Death, Sex & Money, an award-winning podcast on WNYC. She says a recent report by the U.S. surgeon general’s office suggested that strong social connections are necessary for good mental health outcomes.

“(The surgeon general) wrote a lot about social connections and needing to tend to those social connections, not just because it would be a nice thing to have, but because it keeps us healthy, and as those erode, we become less healthy,” says Sale.

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Author

  • Detroit Today
    Dynamic and diverse voices. News, politics, community and the issues that define our region. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Today brings you fresh and perceptive views weekdays at 9 am and 7 pm.