As the economic crisis gathered steam last year, Americans became increasingly stressed out and experienced worsened mental health ”” a trend that continues today, according to a landmark Gallup-Healthways poll out this week.
Done nearly every day in 2008 and still ongoing, the survey of 355,334 people is believed to be the largest, longest and most thorough poll showing how emotional well-being shifts with economic changes.
The survey produces a so-called Emotional Health Index (EHI) ”” a measure that weighs negatives such as depression, worry and stress against the positive feelings a person experienced the day before the survey.