This is the first sentence I wrote this week. I wrote it on a Thursday. Like a lot of people right now, I’m working harder to do this and even basic daily tasks feel heavier than usual. If this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. The pandemic has affected everyone’s mental health and there are data to prove it.
Although there has been widespread discussion about the economic consequences of a global pandemic, the weight of our collective mental health is more difficult to quantify. It is almost impossible to stay home for months, cancel events for years, and even interrupt basic routines, such as buying groceries without a significant impact on our mental health. However, it may seem that the impact of these changes is “just stress” and you can treat it as something you can achieve.
According to data from Mental Health America (MHA), however, more people are facing a deterioration in mental health. From January to September 2020, the number of people who have taken MHA anxiety screening tests has increased by 93 percent over the entire previous year. The organization’s depression screening has seen a 62% increase over the 2019 totals. Before the end of the year, there were more people who never tried to find out if they were suffering from anxiety or depression.
MHA is not the only organization with data indicating the impact of the pandemic on mental health. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation in July 2020 found that 53% of adults said the pandemic had a negative toll on their mental health. Data collected by the CDC found that 41% of adults experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder in December 2020, compared to 11% in January-July 2019.
All this means that it is not just you. Mental health problems are a natural reaction to an ongoing traumatic event such as a pandemic.
Why a pandemic increases mental health problems
The pandemic has altered most aspects of our lives, but the added isolation of quarantines, social distancing, and canceled events is one of the biggest tolls on our collective mental health. It’s not just that we miss our friends and family. The social bonds we have form support systems and safety nets. In case of disappearance or reduction, it can cause an increase in the symptoms of anxiety or depression.
MHA Vice President of Mental Health and Systems Defense Debbie Plotnick explained that one of the ways this can manifest itself, especially in young people, is self-harm. “In November, 53 percent of those aged 11 to 17 reported (therefore, more than half of them) that they had frequent thoughts of suicide or self-harm.”
One of the main reasons, not only for thinking about self-harm among young people, but for the mental health problems of people of all ages, is the distance we have had to place between us. “It simply came to our notice then [the people who take MHA surveys] what bothers them — and remember, not everyone is young — and they tell us it’s loneliness and isolation. ‘
It might seem like isolation isn’t as bad as some of the other stressors a pandemic can cause (loss of income, political unrest, and schedule changes), but it’s crucial. We need other people, and while digital connections like Zoom meetings or Discord parties are a good complement, it’s hard to stay away from people who care about us for so long.
And then there’s the practical impact. As of September 2020, a quarter of U.S. adults said they had had trouble paying bills since the pandemic began, according to a Pew Research Center survey. However, this number increases to 46% among lower-income households. “For people who have jobs, they’re very grateful,” Plotnick explained. “For people who are losing their jobs, that’s weird.”