As we begin the new year, the resolutions relating to mental health are becoming increasingly common among many individuals throughout the United States alongside fitness and financial goal-setting. According to surveys conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), there have been increases in Americans’ intentionality to set mental health resolutions for 2026, especially regarding managing anxiety, improving sleep, and setting healthier boundaries with work and technology.
Financial stress, political unrest, and uncertainty regarding the next year have placed increased emphasis on anxiety, i.e. 59% of adults are experiencing anxiety regarding their personal finances and 53% are experiencing anxiety regarding what next year will look like. Given these circumstances, mental health resolutions in this environment are more about surviving with compassion rather than achieving perfection.
The larger population generally sees individuals creating mental health goals in two ways: they either are using therapy or some benefit (if available) from work or they are changing some simple daily routine (walking everyday, journaling or limiting night doom-scrolling). This is positive to clinicians as they are seeing an increased number of individuals identifying their self-care efforts as mental health goals because of how people develop the same level of commitment toward their emotional health as they do their physical and/or occupational success when they pursue self-care from a mental goal perspective.
Families as well are starting to create a family-type defined mental health goal like having a tech-free family meal once a day or performing weekly emotional-check-ins with each other. These types of activities provide family members with ways to enter and access spaces of calmness and connections to each other amidst the chaos created by today’s high-stress living environments.
Rather than setting a large goal such as “I will never be anxious again,” you can set more manageable and achievable goals like ‘I will practice one healthy way to cope with feelings of being overwhelmed each time they occur.” This type of thinking about mental-health resolutions could help attenuate the feelings of added pressure and self-criticism that can occur when navigating through difficult periods in life.
Many businesses are starting to get involved by doing things like offering webinars in January for employees on topics like stress management, burnout, and resiliency. Some companies are creating means by which employees can anonymously share their mental-health resolutions in an attempt to create an environment free of stigma surrounding discussing one’s struggles or seeking assistance.
Many mental health insurance providers and EAP (Employee Assistance Program) providers have noted unusual spikes in the volume of individuals signing up for services that provide access to therapy as well as various digital wellness tools since the beginning of the year, indicating a trend towards using mental-health resolutions as motivation to engage in meaningful actions.
Numerous organizations and faith-based groups are also creating avenues for community members to access support systems to help them openly discuss both their mental-health resolutions, and their concerns regarding falling back into old patterns or negative behaviors. The participants of these support systems will obtain both reassurance that progress is really not definitive, and that if they experience “bad” days it does not equate to a failed attempt, but rather serves as a cue to utilize their support networks.
As you move forward into 2022, the increase in the popularity of creating mental-health resolutions suggests a household-level cultural transformation in how Americans view emotional wellbeing.
Source: American Psychiatric Association – “More Americans Plan Mental Health Resolutions Heading Into 2026
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