Approximately 15 million American adults say their mental health gets worse around Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, BetterHelp, the world’s largest therapy platform, conducted a new survey in partnership with global research company Material, to uncover how Americans feel about their love lives – and where they turn for support. The survey of more than 1,000 adults revealed that nearly half of Americans (47%) are stressed about their love lives, and those who aren’t married are more likely to feel this stress than those who are (55% vs. 38%).

Furthermore, the survey indicates that approximately 15 million American adults say their mental health gets worse around Valentine’s Day, and more than a quarter (26%) of Americans feel negativity around the holiday.

These feelings are most pronounced among Gen Z, with 70% feeling stressed about their love lives compared to Millennials (57%), Gen X (49%), and Baby Boomers (27%). Similarly, 44% of Gen Z respondents say they feel negativity around Valentine’s Day, compared to 33% of Millennials, 24% of Gen X, and 14% of Baby Boomers.

But talking to people can help. Nearly 1 in 3 American adults (32%) say they’re comfortable talking to a significant other about their mental health, and approximately 10 million say talking to a therapist helps them feel less stressed or anxious around Valentine's Day.

So how do single people plan to improve their dating or love lives? While about a third (33%) of single people say nothing can help their dating or love life, there are some potential solutions. 40% of single people say that going out more might help, while being set up by friends/family (19%) and prioritizing dating (18%) were other top fixes. Gen Z respondents were more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to seek help from a therapist with their love lives (17% vs. 7%), and all demographics felt that talking to a therapist about dating stress would be about as effective as using more dating apps (13%) in improving their love lives.

A licensed therapist at BetterHelp, Haesue Jo, LMFT, offered these tips to help alleviate dating and love life stress:

• You’ve heard if before: be yourself, be honest, quit the games. Putting yourself out there is challenging, and facing the possibility of being rejected when you start really liking someone can start making you bite your tongue or refraining from being honest and direct about your feelings and intentions. While it may be difficult, honest communication from the beginning will help you waste less time with people who aren’t on the same page.
• Spend energy, time, and some money on yourself where it matters - invest in your wellness all around, from being physically healthy to being mentally and emotionally strong. Learn to nurture the most important relationship you have - the one with you! Taking care of yourself and nurturing your needs is the foundation of self-love. If you aren’t someone you’d want to spend time with, how can you really expect anyone else to want to?
• Put effort into your other important relationships and maintain a solid support system, and this is important whether you’re single, dating, married, divorced, or anything in between. Love comes in many forms, and giving and receiving love can happen with (chosen) family and friends too. Dating isn’t the only source of loving fulfillment, and counting on our dates to be the one source of love, affection, entertainment, companionship, and everything else is just a lot of pressure for anyone!

To learn more about BetterHelp’s mental health services, please visit www.betterhelp.com

About the Survey:

• This survey was fielded among 1,012 adults, ages 18+ in the United States. The survey was conducted online in January 2023 and has a margin of error of +/- 3%.
• Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results.
• In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3 percent, from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all personas in the universe represented by the sample. The margin of error for any subgroups will be slightly higher.
• Material is a leading global insights firm serving as a partner to more than 100 of the Fortune 500 and thousands of smaller companies and organizations. For more information about Material, please visit materialplus.io.

About BetterHelp

With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world’s largest therapy platform, facilitating over 5,000,000 video sessions, voice calls, chats, and messages every month. They set out on a mission to make sure everyone has easy, affordable, safe, and discreet access to high-quality therapy. Since 2013, their licensed, accredited, and board-certified therapists have helped more than 3,000,000 people face life’s challenges and improve their mental health.

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