Mental Health, An Ignored Repercussion of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has stirred up complications in nearly all facets of our modern world. At the forefront of these affected facets are economics and physical health. Mental health, however, seems to be avoided in coverage by media platforms around the world, despite its extreme relevance and importance. The relationship between economic and health crises, and day to day mental health among those suffering their repercussions, is linear. It only makes sense that attention to mental health in the time of this pandemic is prioritized in line with other issues that contribute to its existence. 

Considering new advancements in technology, inflation in prices of goods, and other daunting aspects of our modern world, mental health was already a global threat prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Historically, increases in rates of severe mental illnesses have often followed in the aftermath of national crises. For example, during the decade of the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, the suicide rate rose from 13.9 to 17.4 per 100,000. Traumatic memories of surviving years of hardship during the Great Depression resulted in high rates of anxiety and depressed mood for generations. Although economic downturns disproportionately affected the health and well-being of the lower income segment of the population, all socioeconomic groups are negatively impacted (Climo).

With cases rising along with global unemployment rates, citizens being encouraged to stay home and social distance, and the uncertainty of it all, mental health seems to be just as big a problem as any other. A recent study involving 1563 health professionals reported that more than half (50.7%) of the participants reported depressive symptoms, 44.7% anxiety and 36.1% sleep disturbance. Moreover, there are not adequate services to provide counselling and psychiatric screening services for anxiety, depression and suicidality for physicians who have been dealing with infected persons (Kar). Humans are physically strong, but psychologically weak, if we want to see a change in the personal mental health of our citizens, we must invest in programs that combat its effects. In April, texts to a federal emergency mental-health line were up 1,000 percent from the year before (Stern). How can a statistic like this be overlooked?

As millions of people around the world battle direct results of this virus, the most important may lie unaddressed. Together, it’s our job to publicly voice our opinion on where we stand with mental health, and where we’d like to go.

Works Cited

Kar, Sujita Kumar, et al. “Coping with Mental Health Challenges During COVID-19.” Edited by Shailendra K. Saxena, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Therapeutics , U.S. National Library of Medicine, 30 Apr. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7189395/.

Climo, Lawrence. “Minefields and Med-Checks: Getting to the Right Questions.” Psychiatric Times, 6 Aug. 2019, www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/minefields-med-checks-getting-right-questions.

Stern, Jacob. “This Is Not a Normal Mental-Health Disaster.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 July 2020, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/coronavirus-special-mental-health-disaster/613510/.