This is the first sentence I wrote this week. I wrote on a Thursday. Like many people now, I am finding work more difficult to do and even the basic daily tasks seem heavier than normal. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. The pandemic has affected everyone’s mental health and there is evidence to support it.
While there has been widespread discussion about the economic consequences of a global pandemic, the toll it does on our collective mental health is more difficult to quantify. It is almost impossible to stay home for months on end, cancel years of events and even interrupt basic routines, like shopping, without a significant impact on our mental health. And yet, it may seem that the impact of these changes is “just stress” and treating it as something to overcome.
According to data from Mental Health America (MHA), however, more people are facing deteriorating mental health. From January to September 2020, the number of people who took MHA anxiety tests increased by 93% over the previous year. The organization’s depression exam has increased by 62% over the 2019 total. Even before the year was over, more people were trying to find out if they were suffering from anxiety or depression than ever before.
The MHA is not the only organization with data pointing to the impact of the pandemic on mental health. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey in July 2020 revealed that 53% of adults said the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health. Data collected from the CDC found that 41 percent of adults had symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder in December 2020, compared with 11 percent in January-July 2019.
All of this to say that it’s 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 disrupted most aspects of our lives, but the further isolation of quarantines, social detachment and canceled events is one of the biggest taxes on our collective mental health. It is not just that we miss our friends and family. The social ties we have form support systems and safety nets. With the disappearance or reduction, it can lead to an increase in the symptoms of anxiety or depression.
MHA vice president of mental health and systems advocacy, Debbie Plotnick, explained that one of the ways this can manifest – especially in young people – is self-mutilation. “In November, 53 percent of young people aged 11 to 17 reported – then more than half of them – having frequent thoughts of suicide or self-harm.”
One of the main reasons, not only for thoughts of self-harm among young people, but also for mental health problems in people of all ages, is the distance we have had to impose on each other. “We have asked [the people who take MHA surveys] what bothers them – and remember, they are not all young – and they are telling us that it is loneliness and isolation. “
It may seem that isolation is not as bad as some of the other stressors that a pandemic can bring – loss of income, political unrest and interrupted schedules – but it is crucial. We need other people, and while digital connections like Zoom meetings or Discord parties are great to fill, it’s hard to stay away from the people you care about for so long.
And then there is the practical impact. In September 2020, a quarter of American adults said they had trouble paying their bills since the pandemic began, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. However, that number rises to 46% among low-income families. “People who have jobs are very grateful,” explained Plotnick. “For people who are losing their jobs, this is painful.”