Madrid (EFE) behind Catalonia and Andalusia, practically tied, the Valencian Community and Galicia.
This is revealed by the analysis of this platform that has analyzed Google searches for terms associated with mental health by Spanish Internet users, from May 2019 to April 2023, in order to find out which autonomous communities are most concerned about Mental health.
Regarding the search for the term “suicide” in the Community of Madrid, the peak is reached in December 2021 with 8,100 monthly searches, the highest since there is data.
However, the search for “suicide” returns to “approach” these levels in the months of August and September 2022, “and so until April of this year.”
In 2023, it was also in the Community of Madrid where there were more searches for “suicide” with an average of 5,150, followed by Catalonia (4,650), Andalusia (4,000), the Valencian Community (2,605) and Galicia (1,375).
Suicide, anxiety and depression, recurring terms in Google searches
The analysis reveals that “anxiety is a constant in the lives of Spaniards” and confirms that the monthly searches for this term skyrocketed in March 2022 to a monthly average of 60,500 records, a peak that was already reached in 2020 in the hardest months of the pandemic.
So far in 2023, searches for the word “anxiety” have fallen and reached maximum and uniform levels to the peaks obtained in 2019, with an average of 40,500 monthly records.
Madrid continues to lead the searches for “depression” with 6,975, and Catalonia and Andalusia, tied with 6,600, are followed by the Valencian Community, with 4,400, and Galicia, 1,900.
The second confinement, higher peaks in the search engine
Depression, which is closely linked to anxiety, has also been a recurring online search term for Spaniards, although the highest peaks correspond to November 2020, coinciding with the decree of the autonomous communities to establish a second confinement after the rise in cases due to the second wave of covid-19.
Also in the online search for “depression”, Madrid is in first position with 6,600 searches, Andalusia and Catalonia move between 6,000 and 5,000, respectively, the Valencian Community (3,425) and Galicia (1,750).
According to this analysis, the expression “mental health” is far below the interests of Spaniards with respect to more specific concepts such as depression, suicide or anxiety.
Even so, searches on everything related to mental health do not stop growing and in October 2022, 49,500 records were reached.
All in all, 2023 marks a turning point and the trend reverses, with searches dropping to 22,200 in March and 14,800 in April of this year.
By autonomous communities, the Community of Madrid also led the searches for the term “mental health” between January and April 2023, with a monthly average of 3,425; ahead of Andalusia (2,950), Catalonia (2,400), the Valencian Community (2,025) and the Canary Islands (910).