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The COVID-19 pandemic has made a negative impact on people in many ways. One of them is their mental health. There has been a rise in the cases of anxiety and depression in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago.
With public places shutting down, many people had no choice but to stay home. But the toll it would take on their mental health has led to those trying to find alternatives to cope due to health and safety concerns regarding treatment.
With things slowly coming back to normal, many people are looking to get access to a mental health treatment center. If you or someone you know may be struggling with anxiety and depression, know that you are not alone. The sooner you get the treatment you need, the better.
Let’s talk more about the increase in these two disorders and the facts behind them.
Increase of 25 percent from the previous years
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a 25 percent increase in the cases of anxiety and depression compared to 2019 numbers. Even with COVID-19 gripping the entire world, many countries have surveyed their citizens regarding their mental health and how the pandemic has affected them.
According to the WHO, the mental health impact that the pandemic has brought forth may be considered a wake-up call. They also emphasized the importance of focusing on mental health even after the pandemic has passed.
A lot of stress factors have arose
Many stress factors had been created during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included but not limited to the following:
- Social isolation
- Grief due to the death of a loved one
- Financial implications due to job being on hold or lost
- Exhaustion (health and other essential workers)
These are the major factors that may trigger stress. An overabundance of stress has been known to take a toll on one’s mental health. This can be known to cause anxiety and depression.
Females and young people have been affected most
In accordance with a study from the Global Burden of Disease, females and young people were most affected by the mental health issues that had occurred during the pandemic. This also included reports of suicidal thoughts and self-harming actions.
Not to be outdone, men and persons with various pre-existing health conditions were also likely to develop mental disorders as well. The study also discussed that people who may become infected with the virus, those who have these pre-existing health conditions were more likely to be hospitalized, severely ill, or die compared to those who were not diagnosed with mental disorders (or show signs of them).
The lack of care
Because of most things shutting down or restricting access, this also led to a lack of care among many of those dealing with mental disorders. The disruption of services leads to many worrying (and rightfully so). With that lack of care, it would mean more people leading to commit suicide if they didn’t get the help they desperately needed.
Not only that, there were questions about what needed to be done in order to replace face-to-face health care because of the risk of transmission. However, many people would speak to therapists and professionals via teleconference if and when the technology was available to them.
Even with things winding down with the pandemic, the lack of care still exists. Yet, there are options that now include not only in-person mental health care, but also remote care in case someone may not be able to travel. In other countries, the technological infrastructure may not be as solid compared to others.
For this reason, the challenge of unveiling mental health care via the Internet will continue to be prevalent. This will be conquered by way of improving their technology and the infrastructure that supports it, which can take years to develop.
Anxiety and depression numbers increased in 2019, but suicides were stagnant
In 2019, 7 to 9 percent of people reported symptoms of anxiety. By 2021, more than four times the number of people have done so. Not to be outdone, 6 to 8 percent of people in the United States reported depression symptoms in 2019.
By August 2021, that number increased almost to four times as well. 20 to 31 percent of US adults had reported depression symptoms. Despite this, the number of suicide deaths in the country had started to decrease as early as 2018.
However, the number of suicides in 2021 had increased by 40 compared to 2020 numbers. Even though the number of depression and anxiety reports has risen sharply, we noticed that it may not have moved the needle much in terms of deaths related to suicide. What’s more surprising is that the number of mental health services unavailable at that time existed.
The numbers for 2022 are unknown at this point. However, with access to mental health services slowly becoming more available, it may be a matter of time until someone acquires help and makes the decision to stay alive instead of commit suicide.
It may have been expected that COVID-19 would have served as a turning point and led to a large increase in suicides due to the mental health issues associated with it. But thankfully, this wasn’t the case as the pandemic continued to take its toll on the world.
Final Thoughts
The COVID-19 pandemic had played a huge role in the increase of mental health disorders throughout the world. Even with the lack of mental health resources, the number of suicides in the United States hadn’t moved a lot. There seems to be a bit more optimism that suicide is never the answer, even in a dark time like the country has faced.
But nevertheless, the importance of mental health has never been greater. If you suffer from depression and anxiety, you can find the care you need at any time be it in person or online.
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