PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – While Valentine’s Day celebrates love, it can also bring stress as millions of Americans say their mental health worsens around the holiday, according to a new BetterHelp survey.
Approximately 15 million adults in the U.S. said their mental health is worse around Valentine’s Day, the survey said, with young adults especially stressed about their love lives.
“A lot of young people right now are stressed about love, about dating life and we’re seeing a lot more of that stress in the younger generation, Gen Z,” said Haesue Jo, head of clinical operations at BetterHelp.
“It could be that it’s unique to these folks, or it could be that at any point in history, if you poll a bunch of people, the youngest generation of people is often going to experience this kind of stress,” Jo explained.
Jo added “especially with Gen Z, they grew up in a very unique time in terms of being born into technology, being interconnected in this globalized, digital way from day one. And as many conveniences as that has brought to us in our everyday lives, I think it comes with some challenges when it comes to inter-personal relationships that I think all of us at any age can begin to understand if we ourselves have interacted with social media at all.”
The survey also found that 47% of Americans were stressed about their love life. Additionally, 55% of singles reported love life stress compared to 38% of those who are married.
To aid some of this stress, Jo suggests maintaining a support system of friends and family and nurturing the relationship you have with yourself.
She also recommends being open with your feelings, adding, “I think sometimes when we’re facing the possibility of rejection, we tend to do things like keep things in, we hold our tongue, we refrain from being truthful, because we don’t want to be rejected for who we are.”