Psychological distress as a systemic economic risk in the USA

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the USA experienced a crisis of increasing psychological distress that was associated with rising morbidity and mortality, especially among young people. The increasing distress probably arose from changing economic, social, technological and political conditions that, unabated, may continue to progress in coming years. The increasing psychological distress may lead to cascading social and economic consequences that further compound suffering, analogous to the spreading impacts of climate change. To address climate change, the USA is beginning to pursue a multisectoral set of policy interventions that include several novel economic strategies. Learning from climate policy, the USA can further address rising psychological distress through: (1) the building of planning, data and regulatory capabilities across agencies; (2) investing in solutions that target root causes and mitigate effects; (3) requiring relevant public disclosures from corporations; and (4) updating policies to reflect potential impacts from psychological distress.