What Happened When Elmo Asked, “How is Everybody Doing?”

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On January 29, 2024, just 5 days before his 54^th birthday, the iconic “Sesame Street” character Elmo unwittingly asked his followers on social media, “How is everybody doing?”

The question spawned around 200 million views and over 15,000 responses and became an international news story. Themes of loneliness, depression, and anxiety were common. Called a “trauma dump,” the New York Times asserted the question opened a “yawning chasm of despair.”

The State of Our Mental Health Today

Elmo’s question simply revealed an epidemic of which we were already aware. A review of the current state of mental health in America leads one to the conclusion that we are in the midst of a mental health crisis.

The results of Stress in America 2023, a national survey conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association (APA) revealed that 45 percent of adults ages 35 to 44 experienced mental health diagnoses in 2023, up from 31 percent in 2019, while adults ages 18 to 34 reported the rate of mental illnesses at 50 percent in 2023.

Over 70 percent of Gen Z report feeling alone “sometimes” or “always,” while a 2019 poll from YouGov, revealed that 22 percent of millennials say they have no friends. Loneliness can exert toxic effects on physical health, not just psychological health.

The results of another APA survey in 2023 (Work in America Survey) indicated that 92 percent of workers claimed that psychological well-being was very (57 percent) or somewhat (35 percent) important to them.

Lastly, according to the United Nations, “Mental health has large intrinsic value as it relates to the core of what makes us human… thus anything that threatens the mental health of large numbers of people threatens the core fabric of society itself” (United Nations, 2020, p. 5).

What Can Be Done?

For myriad reasons, complete reliance upon professional mental health services to respond to the epidemic of psychological distress facing America seems an exercise in futility. The United Nations (2020) therefore correctly asserts psychological support “must adopt nontraditional methods to meet current demands.”

When asked what he had learned from the response to his question, Elmo said. “It is important to ask a friend how they are doing.” Even President Biden weighed in saying, "Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it."

But let us remember the admonition of Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux who claimed, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Attempting to assist someone in serious distress armed solely with good intentions could backfire, so taking some form of training is often recommended.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the editors of the prestigious magazine Scientific American offered one such non-traditional approach to psychological assistance. “A set of simple measures known as psychological first aid or mental health first aid can enable people to help family, friends, and others in their communities who experience psychological distress…” “Psychological first aid is accessible now—people can learn it online for free through a Coursera curriculum developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness.… Everyone should take it” (Editors, 2021).

Psychological first aid has been endorsed by the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization. Anyone who learns physical first aid can learn psychological first aid. In a world fraught with social disconnection, disappointment, alienation, tragedy, and trauma, Nemo Resideo (No one left behind!) must become the rallying cry. Psychological first aid may be the tool you can use to help lessen the burden of psychological distress that is not only an epidemic, but feels more like a disaster affecting friends, family, and co-workers.

© George S. Everly, Jr., PhD, 2024.