Anxiety, depression, suicide are at All-Time Highs , Masks Major Factor
- 36% report having trouble sleeping, 32% have trouble eating, 12% report increased alcohol consumption and/or substance use and 12% report worsening of chronic health conditions due to worry and stress. Those faring the worst are people sheltering in place, 47% of whom report negative health effects, compared to 37% of those not sheltering in place
- A CDC study found 40.9% of respondents reported anxiety, depression or symptoms of trauma- and stressor-related disorder relating to the pandemic; 13.3% of American adults reported new or increased substance use as a way to manage stress, and 10.7% of adults said they’d seriously contemplated suicide in the past 30 days
- Unpaid caregivers for adults had the highest rate of suicidal ideation at 30.7%, followed by young adults, age 18 to 24 (25.5%) and essential workers (21.7%)
Over the past several months, several polls discovered more about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response on mental health, and it’s not good. The “crumbling of the U.S. social fabric” and the rise in “deaths of despair” from drugs and suicide brought on by the pandemic.
Between lockdowns and mandatory mask orders, not only has physical contact been extinguished, but we also cannot see each other’s facial expressions when wearing masks. Both significantly contribute to the feeling of alienation and loneliness
“More than 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder during the pandemic (weekly average for May: 34.5%; weekly averages age for June: 36.5%; weekly average for July: 40.1%).” For comparison, from January to June 2019, the rate of anxiety or depressive disorder was 11%.
