The Mental Toll of COVID-l9

1.You didn't need a crystal ball to forecast that the COVID-19 pandemic would devastate mental

health. Illness or fear of Illness, social isolation, economic insecurity, disruption of routine and

loss of loved ones are known risk factors for depression and anxiety. Now studies have

confirmed the predictions. But psychologists say the findings also include surprises about the

wide extent of mental distress; the way media consumption exacerbates it; and how badly it has

affected young people.

2. For example a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in

August, found a tripling of anxiety symptoms and a quadrupling of depression among 5,470

adults surveyed compared with a 2019 sample.

3. Similarly, two nationally representative surveys conducted in April, one by researchers at the

Boston University School of Public Health and another at Johns Hopkins University found that

the prevalence of depressive symptoms (B.U.) and ''serious psychological distress” (Hopkins)

were triple the level measured in 2018. “These rates were higher than what we've seen after

other large-scale traumas like September 11th, Hurricane Katrina and the Hong Kong unrest,”

says Catherine Ettman, lead author of the B.U. study.

4. Some of the most affected groups in these studies were people who had preexisting mental

health issues, low-income individual, people of color, and those close to someone who suffered

or died from COVID-19. In Ettman’s study, however, the group in the U.S. with the single

biggest rise in depression ─ up fivefold ─ was of Asian ethnicity. In an accompanying

commentary, psychiatrist Ruth Shim suggested the upsurge could reflect the impact of racism

and slurs related to the pandemic’s origin in China.

5. An unanticipated finding across all three surveys, was the outsized toll on young adults. In the

CDC survey, 62.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds reported an anxiety or depressive disorder, a

quarter said they were using more drugs and alcohol to cope with pandemic-related stress and a

quarter said they had “seriously considered suicide” in the previous 30 days.

6. Young adults were also the most affected age group in an unusual real-time study that tracked

the rapid rise in ''acute distress” and depression at three points between mid-March and mid-

April. ''We expected the opposite because it was already clear that older individuals were at

greater risk” from the virus, says senior author Roxane Cohen Sliver, a psychologist at the

University of California, Irvine.

7. Sliver suspects that young people ''may have had more disruption in life events: graduations,

weddings, the senior year of college and of high school. All those transitions were disrupted,

as well as school and social connections, which we know are very important for young people.''

8. Her study, which involved 6,500 people does point to one major contributor to anxiety for

people of all ages: increased engagement with media coverage of the outbreak. Especially

problematic is exposure to conflicting information. Sliver, who has studied the psychological

fallout of event, such as 9/11 and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, says that a fixation on

media coverage is a known risk factor: “If people are engaged with a great deal of media, they

are more likely to exhibit and report distress, but that distress seems to draw them further into

the media. It’s a cyclical pattern from which it is difficult to extricate oneself.”

9. Sliver and others who investigate mass trauma have suggestions for keeping mental equilibrium

in challenging times. Limiting media consumption and avoiding sensationalist reports is one.

Maintaining social contacts─via Zoom, phone or other COVID-safe methods─is also vital,

says psychologist James Pennebaker of the University of Texas at Austin. “Unlike any other

disaster that I’ve studied, people are actively less close to friends and community,” says

Pennebaker, who is examining the pandemics mental health impact by analyzing posts on the

social media platform Reddit.

10. Fewer hugs and less shared grieving may help explain why people do not seem to be adjusting

to the new normal. Pennebaker says. “This is not 9/11or an earthquake, where something big

happens, and we all get back to normal pretty quickly. His other tips are to maintain healthy

sleep, exercise, food and drink habits. Keep a journal too. Research shows that expressive

writing helps people process difficult emotions and find meaning, he says: “If you’re worrying

about COVID too much, try writing about it.”

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