The immense pressure of living under a dying capitalist system exacts a massive toll on the working class. According to polls, Americans say their mental health is the worst it’s ever been.

In March, Gallup reported that only 31% of Americans say they have “excellent” mental health—the lowest since polling began in 2001. Young women are feeling the worst effects. Only 15% of women under 30 feel they have “excellent” mental health, down from 47% in 2014 and 29% in 2019.

An epidemic of eating disorders

Eating disorders are a very common type of mental illness–almost 1 out of every 10 Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. And women suffer the most: 75% of people with eating disorders are female. By age 14, up to 70% of girls are trying to lose weight, 8% of 15-year-old girls diet at a “severe” level, and one study found that 12% of adolescent girls have an eating disorder. More than three out of four children and adolescents “dislike their bodies,” and 45% are regularly bullied for how they look.

These feelings have deadly consequences. The mortality rate for eating disorders is the second-highest of any psychiatric diagnosis, beaten only by opiate addiction. People with anorexia are 18 times more likely to kill themselves than those without an eating disorder. Three in four transgender college students who have eating disorders attempt suicide.

Meanwhile, the weight loss industry made $90 billion in profits in 2023. Investors are salivating over estimates that weight-loss drugs could make $150 billion in profits by 2030.

Millions can’t afford treatment

Almost half ​​of adults under 30 said they needed mental healthcare in 2021—but didn’t get it—mostly because of the cost. Only 27% of women with eating disorders ever receive treatment for it. Four out of five adolescents with eating disorders don’t even try to get treatment. Racial minorities are only half as likely to even receive a diagnosis for eating disorders.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for children between 10 and 14 years old. It’s the third leading cause of death for 15–24 year olds. Instead of getting treatment, many kids end up in prison—NAMI estimates that 70% of youth in prisons have a “diagnosable mental health condition.”

Deadly understaffing

Those who can get treatment aren’t off the hook. Under capitalism, everything is about profit, including mental healthcare. Timberline Knolls, a leading eating disorder treatment center, was shut down earlier this year after repeated sexual assaults and suicides. The rapes and deaths were entirely preventable—the direct result of horrendous understaffing.

Timberline Knolls was run by Acadia Healthcare, a massive monopoly that owns 260 mental healthcare facilities. The former director of Timberline said Acadia pressured her daily to enroll as many patients as possible while keeping staff low. The company also told her to hide reports of sexual abuse from the police.

Acadia claims to “reject any notion that we put profits over patients.” But like every capitalist enterprise, Acadia needs to keep profits up. The logic of the market forces companies like Acadia to understaff their facilities, leading to horrible conditions. When they’re finally caught and shut down, entire communities go from low-quality, unaffordable health services to none at all.

Lies and manipulation

Companies like Acadia engage in other dirty tricks to make more money. They have been caught illegally holding patients against their will, charging their insurance an extra few thousand dollars. More than 50 current and former Acadia employees have said they were instructed to lie about patients, using buzzwords like “combative,” to justify the practice.

Acadia regularly sends employees called “assessors” to emergency rooms scouting for customers. They pressure hospital workers to send patients Acadia’s way, whether or not it’s in the patient’s best interest.

These are all common practices in the industry. United Health Services has been investigated by the Justice Department for similar behavior.

The solution isn’t getting rid of “bad” individuals in charge of “bad” companies through more oversight and regulation. Privately-owned mental healthcare is killing Americans; we can’t entrust our mental health to the blind forces of the market.

Healthcare needs to be rationally planned and democratically run by workers instead of moneygrubbing capitalists. There is no other way to ensure free, quality healthcare to all. That’s why we need to build a revolutionary communist party—the lives of our children depend on it.