Mental health in the age of haste: the emotional price of modern life

Abstract

Until a few years ago, speaking openly about anxiety, burnout, or persistent sadness still seemed like a sign of weakness to a large portion of the Brazilian population. That landscape has changed. In 2024, for the first time in the survey's history, Brazilians chose the word "anxiety" as the one that best defined the year, according to research by the IDEIA Institute in partnership with CAUSE. This is not merely an interesting detail from an opinion poll; it is a symptom of a country that has long topped rankings no one would want to lead.

According to 2017 data from the World Health Organization, Brazil already held the top spot globally for the prevalence of anxiety disorders, affecting approximately 18.6 million people—equivalent to 9.3% of the population. Nearly a decade later, the 2023 Covitel survey, conducted by Umane’s Public Health Observatory, shows that 26.8% of Brazilians have been diagnosed with anxiety. That figure has practically tripled. Furthermore, the *World Mental Health Day* report published by Ipsos in 2024 ranks the country fourth among the most stressed nations on the planet; 54% of respondents identified mental health as the primary health issue facing Brazil today, compared to just 18% in 2018.

This editorial does not aim simply to repeat statistics. Its goal is to ask what these figures reveal about how we are living, how we are falling ill, and how we are—or are not—caring for one another.