Unsupported Needs:

Diving deeper into national trends of mental health service access, this report explores how severity of mental health symptoms or substance use behaviours relates to how Canadians are accessing support.

Understanding the complex relationship between the severity of mental health or substance use challenges and access to supports is essential for evaluating current mental health care practices and informing future investments in Canada.

Key Findings

• 15% of Canadians reported severe mental health symptoms or substance use challenges. Levels of severe symptoms were reported most often for alcohol use (6.1%), followed by cannabis use (5.8%), anxiety (4.9%) and depression (4.5%).

• Canadians who are younger, lower income, or identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ were more likely to report severe mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression) or harmful substance use behaviours (alcohol, cannabis). Women were more likely to report anxiety, while men were more likely to report harmful substance use behaviours.

• In all cases (i.e., anxiety, depression, alcohol use, and cannabis use), higher severity was associated with higher rates of recent access to support services. Canadians reporting more than one severe mental health or substance use challenge were also considerably more likely to report accessing support in the last year, as well as in the past.

Previous reports in this series include Meeting the Demand: Assessing Mental Health Support Across Demographic Groups in Canada and Financial Factors: Mental Health Service Access by Funding Pathway.