Million Scottish adults affected by anxiety in their daily lives – poll

More than one million adults across Scotland have experienced levels of anxiety stopping them from living their daily lives, new research from the Mental Health Foundation has shown.

Polling of 1,000 adults in Scotland conducted by Opinium on behalf of the charity has shown 70% of adults have had some anxiety while 58% of adults experienced anxiety that interfered with their daily lives in the past two weeks.

The research marks the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week from today until Sunday, with the charity raising the alarm about the impact of anxiety on adults in Scotland.

More than one-quarter (27%) said they experienced anxiety and felt anxious to the extent it stopped them from doing what they would like or what they need to do most or all of the time in the last two weeks. Despite anxiety being very common, more than four in 10 adults (44%) kept their feelings secret, suggesting significant numbers of people are still not comfortable talking about their own experiences, despite progress in discussing mental health more openly in recent years.

The polling also found one in five (21%) adults felt anxious all or most of the time.

One in three people (30%) said they were not coping well with feelings of anxiety, 33% felt anxious about paying the bills and 42% said more financial security would help prevent anxiety.

Scottish Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said: “Our forthcoming mental health and wellbeing strategy will focus on every part of what mental health and wellbeing means.”